


Child of Darkness

by Nekoamamori



Series: Child of Darkness [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-04 19:17:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 42
Words: 80,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15847674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nekoamamori/pseuds/Nekoamamori
Summary: A vampire's slave escapes and fights for her freedom.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is an original piece. No fandoms of any kind.

I heard the wolves chasing us as we ran, shapes moving in the brush and undergrowth behind us on either side of the path. They were gaining on us, getting too close and would catch us if we couldn't find a way to move faster. If we could hear them, they could most certainly hear us.They were on four paws and we were on two feet, crashing through the woods, desperate to escape.

The forest was silent around us as we tore our way desperately through the trees, over roots, around rocks and bigger trees. We needed to hide our trail better, but the need for speed was more important.

I tried to ignore the sharp rocks, the painful roots and debris of the forest floor as I ran barefoot. We had to keep moving. We had to escape. There was little moonlight to guide us, which was both a blessing and a curse. It made it harder on us, but it hopefully would make it harder on those pursuing us as well.

The man was leading, dragging me along behind him, urging my frail form to keep up. I clung to his hand as we ran, desperate to keep moving, desperate to escape. I was stumbling, exhausted, weak, abused, frightened. There was something wrong with me. I couldn't run as fast as I needed. No matter how much faster I told my legs to move, they just wouldn't do it. My body was weak, I could barely breathe. Desperation overtook me as I tried as hard as I could to keep up, keep running, and just keep moving.

The wolves were gaining ground, closing in on us. I knew the vampires were close behind. We just had to outrun them a little while longer. The sun was coming up. We would be safe then.

Suddenly, the man dragged me off of the path into a little hollow under a giant tree. "We'll be safe here for a little while," he whispered. I nodded, trying to catch my breath as quickly and silently as possible. I wasn't doing very well. My pulse thumped in my ears and I was gasping for breath. He looked concerned and scared. I tried to do better, but I was so weak and tired. My body was abused, covered in cuts, bruises, and now dirt from running through the woods in the dark. He took off his cloak and wrapped it around my shoulders. It was much warmer than the thin ragged dress I was wearing. He handed me a bottle of water. "Here, we'll rest a couple more minutes," I drank greedily from the bottle, knowing we had to keep moving if we wanted to survive. I had to finish the water he gave me quickly so we could continue. We had to keep moving.

The world started to turn black around me and the bottle fell from my hands. "I'm sorry, Adianna. It was the only way," he whispered as the black fog overtook me and I drowned in unconsciousness. There had been something in the water. Why would he drug me as we were trying to escape? Why was he doing this to me?We needed to escape.I-we- we had to.This was the only chance.

"Forget now. Forget until you're ready to remember," I heard a different voice bid me. Helplessly, I succumbed to the darkness and everything faded away.


	2. Now

I woke to the sun shining in my eyes and snapped awake instantly, panicking. He would be mad! I knew he'd be mad.I shouldn’t be sleeping! There was work to be done and it _hurt_ when he was angry.

Except… I couldn't remember who I was afraid of…

I looked around the room I was in, but didn't recognize my surroundings. It looked like a hospital room with white walls, medical equipment and the hospital style bed I was laying in.I was laying in a bed!?! That didn’t seem right either. There were machines beeping in the background and I accepted the fact that I _was_ in the hospital bed, and hooked up to said machines with IVs in my arm.

"Shh, it's ok Adianna, you're safe now," a male voice broke me from my panic.It was the same voice from the end of my dream, I realized as my attention was drawn to the chair in the room and it's occupant.

So I focused on the boy, as he was the most important thing in the room, though I didn't recognize him either. He looked to be around 18 with floppy brown hair and was well-built like he worked out a lot. He was dressed in what appeared to be a school uniform. I tried to calm myself as I was taking in the room and the boy. "It's ok, you're safe," he promised again.

I realized I was sitting up in the bed now, my knees pulled to my chest, scared, but not understanding why. I didn’t remember moving. I just knew that I should keep quiet and not upset the male. He watched me for a moment, considering, evaluating. "Damn, I wiped your memory too far.” He sounded and looked upset by that statement and I couldn’t help curling further, terrified of the angry male, and assuming that he was angry at me, going to hurt me for upsetting him.

My actions registered, I saw his expression change to worry for an instant before he schooled his expression to a mask that didn't betray what he was feeling. "I'm sorry, I'm going about this all wrong. I promise you that you're safe here and no one will hurt you,” he soothed, gentling his voice, as one would when talking to a frightened animal. I slowly relaxed, somehow, against all odds and against all logic, trusting him and his words. "Do you remember anything?" he asked, softly, gently. I thought for a moment, then shook my head. I couldn't remember anything before waking up in this room, and the dream I had just prior. I didn't think he needed to know about the dream, but there was one other thing I remembered.

It took all of my courage to say the words. I wasn't supposed to speak, but he had asked me a direct question. He wouldn't hurt me for answering it, right? Right? “Just that my name is Adianna, sir." My voice sounded soft, scared, and hoarse with disuse, even to my own ears.

He would definitely be mad if I didn't call him 'sir'. Except that he didn't look mad. He looked hurt, like it had pained him that I had used that word. He nodded again, lost in thought.

I took his momentary distraction to take account of my own body. I was stiff and sore. My body felt exceptionally weak and abused. I was covered in all sorts of cuts, bruises, and scars.

He took a breath before he spoke again.”I'm going to be honest with you. This is going to be hard to accept, but I promise you two things: the first and most important is that you're safe here; the second is that I promise that I will not lie to you." He let that sink in for a moment before he continued. I was lost and confused without my memories and had to accept what he told me as true. "Your name is Adianna Kincaid and you're 17 years old." He was starting with simple facts. It felt like he was building up to whatever he was going to tell me that he thought was unbelievable. I nodded, accepting the simple facts. Simple facts were easy and safe. "The rest is hard to explain, so I ask your patience. We also only know part of the story. The rest is speculation." He paused again, gathering his thoughts. "I wouldn't even tell you if it wasn't necessary." He sighed and looked so frustrated. "It would be better if you didn't have to remember and could just start over." I wondered how bad it could be if he didn't even want to tell me about it. Why was it better if I stayed without my memories? That thought scared me, but I tried not to let it show. If what he said was true, I was safe now. Whatever happened in my past couldn't hurt me anymore. His frustration and awkwardness hurt so much that I had to open my mouth to help him, even though I knew better. I knew better than to speak when not addressed, but he needed help.

"Please, sir, why don't you just tell me? Whatever happened is in the past. It can't hurt me anymore." I asked him softly, my voice still sounding hoarse and unused. It didn't seem right to not address him as 'sir'. He wasn't older than me, but it still wasn't right.

"Don't call me 'sir'," he grumbled. I flinched away from his angry tone, before he calmed his expression and forced himself to be patient again. "We don't know the whole story," he repeated, "only bits and pieces. Four years ago, you were kidnapped by a vampire, one of the most powerful of his kind. His name is-"

"Kieran," I said softly, interrupting him against all of my instincts. I didn't know where the memory came from. I didn't remember Kieran, what he looked like, nothing except his name. I shrank back from Hunter when I realized I had interrupted him, sure he was going to hit me for what I had done.

Instead, Hunter simply nodded with what looked like a slightly pained expression. "Yes, his name is Kieran. Do you remember him?" I shook my head, relaxing a bit since Hunter hadn't hit me yet. I knew that I shouldn't be accepting his story so easily, but I knew the vampire's name. It resounded with me so firmly that I knew he wasn't lying. I also saw the scars of bite marks on my wrist. As much as I wanted to fight his story, I had to accept that it was true. "It's ok if you don't remember yet," he tried to reassure me. "I don't know what happened to you while you were with Kieran. All I can tell you is that I rescued you from him the night before last. I brought you here, where you're safe." He kept emphasizing that fact.

Due to some kind of insanity, I decided to test that statement. "Where are we?" I almost bit through my tongue keeping the word 'sir' from spilling out of my mouth. I braced myself to be hit, or worse, but instead he just smiled at me.

"This is the hospital wing of St. Hubert's boarding school. It's a school designed to train vampire hunters, on top of being a college prep academy. Most of the local students whose parents want them to have a good education send them here too. Most of the boarding students were hurt by the vampires in some way, shape, or form. We can teach you how to fight them too. We'll protect you from Kieran and help you in any way we can. I promise." I looked into his eyes and they seemed so sincere.So earnest.So puppy-like in his desire to help.

Suddenly, his eyes changed, just for an instant to a golden amber color, from the brown they had been. His swiveled his attention to the door of the room. "The Healers would like to come in and check on you. Is that ok?"

"You won't leave?!" I begged, terrified. I hated myself for begging him to stay, but he was the only safe thing I knew here. I didn't want to be alone with strangers. He smiled and relaxed.

"I'll stay right here. You'll be perfectly safe." I nodded and he made a gesture to the person at the door. A young woman entered the room. She was dressed in a white dress and cloak over it.

"Hello, Adianna. I'm Healer Sarah. How are you feeling?" she asked. She was so soft, gentle, and caring. I couldn't bring myself to speak to her, though, too scared of strangers. Hunter stood, drawing her attention to him instead of me.

"She's awake and she was speaking with me." He moved closer to me, standing between the Healer and myself, putting himself as a defensive wall. It was calming and made me feel safe. The Healer moved closer, but not past Hunter's defenses. She looked me over and looked over her machines.

"She's healing well. I think the best thing for her now would be to get her settled in at the dorms and get some food in her. Hunter nodded.

"If she's cleared to leave, I'll walk her back to the dorm." The Healer nodded and began to disconnect me from the machines. She was careful, under Hunter's protective gaze and didn't hurt me, or touch me any more than necessary. One of her assistants came in with a stack of clothes.

"I doubt you'll want to walk back to the dorm in the hospital gown. Or the dress you came here in. It's not much, but it should hold you over until they get you settled in at the dorms." She set the clothes on the end of my bed and left. The Healer looked concerned.

"Hunter, you should wait outside," she ordered him. He glared at her, but she didn't back down. "We'll wait outside together while Adianna changes clothes," she insisted. She sounded calm but firm. "Dear, are you ok to change clothes on your own?" she asked me, looking around the grumpy Hunter. I nodded. I could handle that. I would handle that.

"We'll wait outside," Hunter finally agreed. "We will be right outside the door. There are no other entrances to this room. You're safe here. If you need anything, anything at all, call out and we'll come running," he promised. He hesitated again at leaving me alone before he and the Healer left. I heard them talking in loud, obvious voices right outside the door. They were reassuring me that they were still there, keeping me safe.

I stood shakily. My entire body felt weak and sore. I was wearing a simple hospital gown. One of those stupid backless ones. No wonder I needed new clothes before leaving this place. I also had a few bandages and one of those hospital bracelets around my wrist. The outfit they had given me was simple: blue scrubs and comfortable slip-on shoes. I dressed quickly, hating being alone. I hesitated at putting the shoes on. It seemed wrong somehow, but I finally did because it was expected of me. Once I was dressed, I made my way to the door where Hunter and the Healer were waiting. They both smiled at me. "Leave the hospital bracelet on for now. It'll convince the boys to behave themselves," the Healer told Hunter. "I still think she should move to the girls' dorms…” she sounded disapproving

"We'll be better able to protect her," Hunter insisted. He turned to me. "Ready to go? It's almost dinner time," I nodded and he led me from the hospital. I stayed behind him, just to his right where he'd be able to see me in his peripheral vision. It seemed important to stay that exact distance. It felt familiar and almost comforting, in a terrifying way. We made it to the main doors of the hospital. I hesitated at going outside. "It'll be ok. We're close to the dorms." The sun was still shining. It had to be reasonably safe out there. I nodded and headed out into the sun. I blinked back the light, so unaccustomed to it. I closed my eyes and made a small sound of pain. "Damn! I'm sorry, Adianna, I didn't think of the sun," Hunter rushed over to me. He stood in front of me so he was blocking most of the light. "I forgot that you haven't seen it in years. I'm so sorry," I tried opening my eyes again, but they started watering as soon as I did and I shut them again to block out the pain. It was so much brighter out here than it had been in the hospital. "Keep your eyes closed, and I'll lead you back to the dorm. I promise you that you'll be safe," I nodded, somehow trusting him. He offered his arm to me. I hesitated before taking it. I was hard to trust, hard to accept touching a male. He waited patiently for me to take his arm. I finally reached out and place my hand on his arm and let him lead me to the dorms. He was warm and safe, but he was still male and therefore a danger. After a couple minutes of walking, my eyes finally adjusted enough to open and I dropped his arm like a hot coal. He looked at me to make sure I was ok, but didn't comment on my dropping his arm. I felt that he understood how difficult this was for me, and wasn't going to make it any harder than he had to.

The dorm was huge and looked more like a mansion than what I had expected a dorm to look like. "This is the boys' dorm. The girls live on the other side of campus." Hunter explained as we walked up the stairs to the main entrance of the dorm. Hunter reached the top first, naturally, as stairs were difficult in my current injured state. He opened the heavy wooden door and held it open patiently as I climbed the last of the stairs. It was much dimmer inside the dorm, and I felt much more comfortable in that atmosphere. The door closed behind us, blocking out the rest of the extra bright sunlight. I relaxed, feeling calmer at the sound of the lock engaging on the door behind us. "C'mon, dinner's this way," Hunter bid me. I followed him a couple of steps until another voice called out.

"Hunter, _there_ you are! Hurry up! We're going to be late for dinner." The boy was bounding down one of the sets of stairs. He was well-muscled and shaggy haired. There was something off about his accent. It was almost more of a lisp than a true accent. The boy stopped at the bottom of the stairs and took a closer look at us. "Don't let Maester Wright catch you sneaking a girl into the dorms. She's cute, but you don't want to go and mar your demerit-free record." I felt myself blush, recognizing what the newcomer was insinuating. Hunter snarled at him, an animalistic sound that no human throat should have been capable of making.

"That is _not_ what's going on," Hunter snarled the words. The newcomer backed up a step and bowed his head in submission. I backed away from the angry male, no longer feeling safe. I was too far away from the door to make a run for it, but it was a consideration anyway.

"I apologize for my indiscretion," the boy said, his speech strangely formal now. "What _is_ she doing here then?" he asked, sounding more hesitant, like he was afraid of Hunter. I took note of that behavior. If this muscled, strongly built boy was afraid of Hunter, it seemed like Hunter was truly someone to be feared. I stayed quiet, watching to see how this would unfold. The only thing I could think to do was focus on surviving. That was my first instinct and told me a lot about the last four years.

"Maester Wright knows she's here. She was Kieran's," Hunter explained in as few words as possible.

"Was? As in he gave her up willingly?" the new boy asked hopefully. Hunter shook his head. "Shit! You're serious? You have one of Kieran's pets here? He'll send an army after us to get her back!" He stopped his rambling at Hunter's expression. He sighed and looked at me, drawing the attention back to me. I shrank back from that attention."Calm down. We're not going to hurt you. We'll protect you from Kieran." The new boy smiled, trying to be reassuring. There was something so utterly calm about him. He seemed so safe and unthreatening. I felt myself relax. He grinned a lopsided grin and I gave him the tiniest of smiles in return.

"Maester Wright knows she's here," Hunter told the new boy again. He still seemed out of control, like he was trying to reign himself in. The new boy looked at me with a strange expression I couldn’t quite identify.Almost as if he were evaluating me, looking for some quality, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

"My name is Carl Stone. I'm one of the students here at St. Hubert's," he told me calmly. "In case Hunter here has been dumb and unhelpful, the grumpy one there is Hunter Blair." I giggled while Hunter grumbled that he was perfectly helpful. It was so absurd that I couldn’t help giggling, and it felt so strange to make the happy sound.Hunter continued to look grumpy. Carl had moved closer while he was talking. He was standing closer than Hunter now, but his presence was so soothing and unthreatening that I didn't mind. There was just something about him. I couldn't figure it out, but he was safe.

"I told her that already and about the school," Hunter grumbled from where he stood brooding with his arms crossed. I could feel him fighting to reign in his temper. Carl glanced over at him.

"Hunter. Your temper. You're scaring her more than she needs to be," he told the grumbling boy, trying to stay calm himself. He turned back to me. "Hunter has a bit of a temper, but he's a good guy. He won't hurt you. I know it's hard to trust us with what you've been through, but I promise, you're safe now." He paused again. "I'm an empath. I can sense emotions. I know all of this stuff about magic and vampires is new and scary, but it'll make sense and be ok soon." He smiled at me again.

"We should get to dinner," Hunter grumbled with the air that he was trying to take control of the conversation back. "Adi, I know it's too soon and that you aren't ready to be around so many people, but we really do need to get to dinner. Carl and I will both be there to protect you. I know you have to be hungry. Kieran isn't known for treating his slaves well."

I cringed at the word 'slave'. It echoed inside of me, hurting me. I knew it was because that's what I had been. That's why I was so scared, so terrified, and so very weak. It hit me then, the whole truth: Kieran had kidnapped me four years ago. I couldn't remember what he did to me, but I knew the truth. It had been a terrible four years. I couldn't control it anymore. I couldn't fight the pain, the fear, the resounding knowledge that I had survived something terrible. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold the emotions in, but they spilled out in great raking sobs.

Hunter looked helpless. He didn't know how to deal with a crying girl. He stood by helplessly, his worry, temper, and frustration rolling off of him in waves as I cried my soul out. Carl came to me, slowly, carefully, as not to startle me and wrapped me in his warm safe arms. "Shh, it'll be ok. You're safe now," he promised. I felt the calm radiating off of him and relaxed in his safety and the bubble of empathy he was emitting.

"Carl can also affect emotions," Hunter explained to me as my sobs subsided. I wasn't sure how, but Carl had helped.

"You ok?" Carl asked as I stepped out of his arms. I nodded, rubbing my eyes to dry them.

"Thank you for trusting us. I know it's hard for you. Let's go get some dinner," Hunter suggested gently.

/I wish there was an easier way/ I knew he didn't say the words aloud, but I still heard them. It was definitely his voice. I didn't say anything to him. I didn't want to upset him, but it was concerning to me.

He started walking away down the hall, trusting that I would follow. I did as I was bid, shrinking in to myself, my arms wrapped around myself for protection. Carl walked next to me as Hunter led me down the corridor of what seemed to be a typical, if more high-class, dorm.

We continued until we reached a large room filled with boys at long wooden tables. They were all boys and looked between the ages of ten and twenty. At that moment, it was the most terrifying thing I could imagine. I took a step back, hesitating at the doorway. My hands reached up to my neck automatically, as if I expected Hunter to grab me by it and drag me forward. Hunter looked over at me. "It's ok. They won't hurt you," he insisted. At those words, the boys took the cue and stopped blatantly staring at us and returned to staring at their full plates coaxed me in to the room and to the cafeteria-style line. He wouldn't let me leave the line until my plate was almost overflowing. He then led me to a seat at an open table where Carl joined us.

I stuck out like a sore thumb in my blue hospital scrubs, but Hunter's glare convinced most of the boys to stop paying attention to me, or at least to stop being so obvious about it. No one was eating yet. They all seemed to be waiting for something. Hunter was relaxing now that they had turned their attention away from us.

My stomach was rumbling, twisted into knots. The hunger pains seemed natural, though. I wondered why no one was eating yet."Maester Wright needs to make announcements and will talk to the guys before we can eat," Carl explained while Hunter worked on his temper again. He was calming now that we weren't being stared at. "It's supposed to be motivational or something." Carl shrugged. He had a scary-looking math textbook in front of him. "Hey, Hunt, do you have the answer to number ten?" Carl slid the textbook over toward Hunter. I glanced at the page, curious.

"Twenty," I told him with conviction. He looked at me confused. I didn't know how I did it, but I knew the answer was right. Hunter nodded, confirming my answer. He smiled at me, a heartwarming grin.

"She's right,"

"Thanks!" Carl scribbled the answer down. He looked back up at me with a smile. "I didn't catch your name earlier," he told me softly. I hesitated, glancing at the boys around us. They didn't seem to be paying attention, but that didn't mean they weren't. For some reason, I didn't want all of them to know, not right now anyway.

I concentrated, instinctively pulling the knowledge I needed. I didn't know where the knowledge came from. I didn't actively remember, but still I knew. /My name is Adianna/ I thought at him, carefully, hoping that he could hear it.

Carl grinned at me. /You’ve almost got the hang of it. Just not so loud/ He was reassuring and I found myself relaxing. He wasn't angry, he was encouraging.

Suddenly, a man in deep blue robes stood up at the head table at the front of the room. "That's Maester Wright," Hunter explained softly as the man began to speak. I didn't pay attention to what he was saying. I was trying to figure out why he looked so familiar. I couldn't remember. He was just an average-looking middle aged man. He didn't look remarkable, just really familiar. He finally sat again, his speech ended. Around us, boys began digging in to their meals. Still, I hesitated.

Something told me I had to wait.

"Would you start eating already?" Carl grumbled at Hunter, with his fork halfway to his mouth. "She can't start until you do, and I'd rather yell at you than her, because it's not her fault," Hunter grumbled, and started eating, at which point I started inhaling my food, as if I hadn't eaten in years. Carl smiled and turned back to me. "Sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to yell. As I explained earlier, I'm an empath. I can feel the emotions of those around me. Unfortunately, I can't always control it or turn it off. In this crowd of hormonal teenage boys, I get a little twitchy." He smiled, trying to be reassuring.

I looked down and realized my plate was empty. There had been so much food there. I wondered how I had eaten it all. I was feeling better now, though.

"Hey Carl, find yourself a new boyfriend?" some jock-looking boy sneered from behind Carl. I peeked up at the boy, but he was big and scary looking, so I found myself staring back at my plate. He also had two large friends standing behind him. I shrank back away from them, trying to avoid being noticed.

Carl turned and snarled, standing to face down the boys in the same motion. "I get that you and your friends aren't ok with the fact that I'm gay. If you want to challenge me, then challenge me. However, now is not the time nor the place," he growled at the jocks. I realized something, though. Carl was gay. That's why he was so safe. He had no interest in me in a way that would hurt me. The guys looked shocked at Carl's outrage. It seemed that they were used to tormenting him, and not used to him fighting back. I realized Carl was fighting back because I was here. He was trying to protect me.

Suddenly the jocks stiffened and seemed to sniff the air for a moment. "She's a girl!" they exclaimed loudly enough that the entire hall could hear. Hunter pinched the bridge of his noise and sighed in exasperation.

/There goes that plan… / I heard his thoughts again. I wasn't trying to, but I heard him anyway. It wasn't like we were actively trying to hide that fact that I'm a girl, but they weren't announcing it to the world either. Carl snarled again. The boys stepped back and looked down, bowing their heads just like Carl had earlier when he had deferred to Hunter. I didn't quite understand it, but I knew Hunter and Carl would protect me. Strangely, Hunter seemed to be letting Carl take care of this himself.

"Yes, she is. Leave her out of your dislike of me. She spent the last four years with Kieran. She doesn't need shit from you lot on top of everything else she's been through," Carl growled. The boys looked a mix of shocked and impressed before they quickly left. The rest of the boys quickly turned back to their food, pretending like they hadn't been watching the whole confrontation. Carl took his seat again, and I noticed his eyes were now amber too, just like Hunter's had been earlier. As he regained his calm, his eyes slowly changed back to green. "Sorry about that, Adianna. Some of the guys here can be real jerks." Carl smiled apologetically as he opened his textbook again.

"Carl, watch out for her. I need to speak with Maester Wright," Hunter ordered as he stood. Carl nodded dismissively. He didn't seem worried. Hunter turned to address me. "Don't worry, I won't be long. I'll be right over there." He pointed to the head table. "And Carl will protect you." With that, he left us to go see Maester Wright.

"S-so, you're gay and that's why those boys don't like you?" I blurted. I slapped my hands over my mouth in horror. I couldn't believe I had been so bold. Carl stiffened, looking angry, before he realized who it was who asked. He relaxed again, watching me closely to gauge my reaction.

"Yes, I am," his response was hesitant. I smiled at him. It made my whole face ache, but it was worth it for his return smile.It felt so strange to smile, as if I hadn’t done it in years.

"Good for you," I told him sincerely. I liked him better for his preference for men. It made him safer, less likely that he was going to hurt me. Carl looked so relaxed and happy about my reaction.

"Do you have the answer to number fourteen?" he asked as he slid the textbook over so I could see it. I could tell with that gesture that all of the tension was over. We had accepted each other as friends, and that was that. We spent the rest of the dinner time working on Carl's math homework until Hunter finally rejoined us.

"Maester Wright wants to meet you in the morning," Hunter told me. "There's a couple of errands we still need to run this evening. Carl, are you free to come with us?" he asked a bit formally. Carl nodded and stood. I scrambled to my feet. They were both looking stressed as they escorted me quickly from the room. They finally slowed again when we were safely in the main lobby. "Sorry for the rush. Teenage boys don't always have the best thoughts when there's a girl in the room, especially when you're the only girl in the building." Carl elbowed him when he saw the look of horror on my face. "None of them will hurt you. We'll make sure you're safe." He amended quickly. I was stressed and just wanted to sleep and finally get some rest. That wasn't in order, yet, apparently. "The first stop is the girls' dorm across campus," he explained as he and Carl led me outside. Hunter was leading while Carl walked next to me. I realized that Carl had been brought along as security. "Now that you've been officially outed as a girl, you'll have to dress the part and they'll have uniforms and other clothes for you there."

"Customarily, we would have given you over to them, since you are female." Carl chimed in. Hunter glanced back at him.

"But Maester Wright thinks it's safer for you to stay with us, at least until everything with Kieran is sorted out. Once everything is settled and it's safer, we'll get you back into school, mostly likely living in the girls' dorm." Hunter was talking amicably. He was trying to keep me distracted as we left the safety of the dorm and headed to the wide-open campus. Evening was only just beginning. There was still sunlight, thought it wouldn't last for long. "While you live here, you'll need to wear the uniform, except on weekends." Hunter led us quickly across campus, which was only a few buildings. The boys pointed them out as we passed them. There were the two dorms, a couple of academic buildings, and the administrative building.

We entered the identical dorm across campus. Somehow, it seemed cleaner than the boys' dorm. Hunter led the way effortlessly, it seemed like he had been here before. He finally stopped at the door at the end of the hall. I was surprised we hadn't run into anyone, either on the way over here or in the dorm. I was scared, but the boys were so reassuring, calm, and protective, that I couldn't help feeling like maybe, just maybe, everything would be ok.

A matronly woman met us at the door. Carl posted himself to wait outside for us, keeping guard. "Is this the girl you called us about?" she asked Hunter, smiling warmly at me. She reminded me of a grandmother. One of the ones who always spoiled their grandchildren.

"Yes, ma'am. Madame Bishop, this is Adianna Kincaid. Adianna, this is Madame Bishop. She's not the Headmistress, but she might as well run the girls' dorm." I nervously shook her extended hand, then ducked back behind Hunter, scared of even that much contact.

"It's ok, dearie. You're safe here," she tutted.

"She was just rescued from Kieran," Hunter explained. "She's staying with us across campus. We just need some uniforms and clothes and such for her." Madame Bishop just smiled and nodded. She looked me over with a practiced eye and rummaged in to the closet behind her. She pulled out a stack of clothes, which she handed to me.

"You can change in here, dear." She opened the door to a small fitting room. I nodded nervously, and went to change as I was bid. I changed quickly, amazed she had gotten the sizes right on everything, including the underclothes. The mirror on the back of the door didn't help. I couldn't help but see myself in it. The girl looking back at me was too thin, anorexic looking, with long, but dull, red hair. She had dark circles under her bright green eyes. She was covered with cuts, bruises, and scrapes. There was a red ring around my neck, like something had rubbed the skin there raw. She-no I- looked like a refugee to the battered women's shelter. The uniform didn't help my appearance, though I did look slightly more feminine in it. The uniform was simple enough, a button-down shirt and tie, green plaid skirt, knee-high socks, loafers, and a blazer with the school emblem on it. I pulled my hair back in a simple ponytail and nervously headed back out to where Hunter and Madame Bishop were waiting.

Madame Bishop smiled so warmly at me that I felt myself relaxing in her presence. "Everything fits perfectly! I'll send one of the girls over with extras and some weekend and night clothes." With Hunter's thanks, she showed us out. Carl rejoined us and smiled at me.

"You ok?" he asked, with the air of an older brother. I nodded, stepping closer to his safety. As we left the dorm, I realized that the sun had gone down. Hunter realized this too, and cursed. I noticed a purple glow and looked at the back of my hand where it was coming from. Hunter and Carl both cursed at that.

"C'mon, we need to get you back," Hunter told me, trying to remain calm, but he was failing now. He was nervous.

"What's wrong?" I asked them, focusing my question on Carl, who was the least threatening of them. They both looked at the glowing symbol on the back of my hand.

"That's a tracking glyph. Kieran put it on you. Any vampire nearby can sense it and find you," Hunter explained as he pushed us as fast as I could walk back across campus. Carl was staying right next to me now an arm wrapped around me, pushing me to move faster and supporting me. Both of the boys were on high alert. I tried to go faster for them, but I couldn't. My body was just too weak to go very fast at all.

I suddenly sensed something. It felt like death and evil. "Vampires!" I gasped. Hunter nodded to Carl. A second later, Carl was gone. In his place was a giant gray wolf. The wolf edged closer to me, facing the vampires with me at his back, while he was snarling. I shrank back, but I wasn't scared of the wolf in front of me. Hunter stepped back so he was close enough to protect me. Two men stepped out on the path in front of us. I could feel that they were the vampires.

"Hand over the girl," one of them ordered. Hunter didn't even bother answering. He left Carl to protect me, and lunged for the vampires. My eyes could barely keep track of the movements. Hunter moved faster than I thought a human should be able to. I was still sure the vampires would kill him. They were strong, immortal, and all-powerful. Of course, they would hurt, or worse, kill him. Hunter's hand reached out supernaturally fast and he slammed something wooden, a stake, into the vampire's chest.

The amazing thing was that the vampire burst into dust. He completely disappeared. He was dead and gone so quickly and easily. A few moments later, the other was dead too. I stood staring in shock and horror. "Th-they're-" Hunter shook his head and grabbed my hand.

"Come on! No time to breakdown now!" With that, he ran, dragging me along behind him, Carl following along beside us. We made it to the dorm and Hunter slammed the door behind us. We stopped, gasping for air. Suddenly, Carl was human again, and he had pulled me into his arms. I made a small noise, surprised, and briefly flashing back to the trauma of men holding me. The trauma passed. It was Carl. He was safe and wouldn't hurt me.

"Are you ok?" he asked me softly.

"He-he killed them. It was so easy," I was still in shock, hyperventilating. I let Carl hold me. He was unbelievably warm and safe. Hunter shook his head.

"I've been training to fight since I was five. I trained to kill vampires since I turned thirteen. You were a terrified, unarmed, untrained thirteen year old girl. There was no way you could have fought Kieran and survived. Do _not_ blame yourself for what happened to you." Hunter pleaded with me. He came as close as he dared, careful not to touch me. He dared not break faith with me.

"It's not easy to kill them, Adi," Carl told me, finally letting me stand on my own, since I was calming. "I'm a werewolf, so that helps give me an edge against them. We'll teach you how to fight them. It won't be easy, but you'll be able to protect yourself," he promised. "Tomorrow," he amended at my hopeful expression. I never wanted to be that weak and helpless again.

"Tonight, let's get you settled in to your room," Hunter suggested. Carl led the way and we ended up at the dorm room next to Hunter's, which Hunter pointed out to me.

"This is your room," Carl told me, handing me the key. "Maester Wright put spells on the room. You are the only one who can open the door. No one can enter unless you invite them in. Every time." I smiled and relaxed. It would be completely safe in there. No one could come in and I'd be safe.

"Thank you!" I told them and carefully unlocked the door. It swung open to reveal a simple dorm room. I stepped in, amazed at the place I could truly call my own.

Hunter coughed from behind me. He and Carl were standing outside. Neither of them were expecting an invite in, it seemed. "We'll leave you to relax. If you need anything, I'm right next door and Carl's across the hall. If not, we'll see you in the morning for breakfast," Hunter told me quickly. They waved and left me alone. I closed the door and firmly locked it, even though I knew that wasn't strictly necessary. It was the first time I'd been truly alone since I'd woken up. I sighed, exhausted, confused, and overwhelmed. I put away all of my new clothes, and found a pair of pajamas. With the room sufficiently clean, I curled into bed, trying to sort out my day and everything that had happened. I was exhausted, however and fell asleep with the knowledge that I was finally safe

 


	3. Then

I knew I was dreaming by the slightly surreal vision I had of the world. Everything was fuzzy, hazy, as if it weren't quite real. I saw flashes of what I assumed was my life. Nothing seemed to be in any particular order. I saw a school, family, friends. I saw two pale adults, who looked at me with love in their eyes. I saw flashes of things that couldn't be real, but felt so real at the same time. They were my friends, but they weren't human. There were unicorns, mermaids, werewolves, cat-people, avian-human hybrids, centaurs.

The images finally stopped flashing at a fire.I saw what I had see then, but the perspective was wrong: I was too small so nothing looked right. It took me a minute to realize that I had been really young when this had happened, that's why I was so short. Something told me I was six or seven in this memory. I was wandering in the fire and smoke, calling for my mommy. I couldn't find her. There was too much smoke and I couldn't breathe.

Someone appeared in front of me. It wasn't my mommy, I couldn't find her. It was a big man with a familiar looking face.I couldn't place who it was, though. He picked me up and ran with me, getting us both out of the burning building safely. The building was falling down around us.

"She'll have to forget them," he told the other adults, as if I wasn't there and listening. "She can't be allowed to remember our world. We'll send her to live with the humans. It's the only way she'll be safe…”

*

The world shifted around me and I found myself waking up in a bed, in a room that should have been familiar to me. An alarm was blaring from the cell phone on the night stand. I shut it off quickly with a well-practiced movement. I made myself get out of the bed and groggily go to the closet to get dressed on one of the uniforms. It was a school day, my mind told me, as I dressed automatically. I recognized the uniform, as it was the one I had been wearing today. It was the exact same uniform. I knew instinctively that this was a memory. This was really from my past. It indicated that I had been going to St. Hubert's before everything happened with Kieran. I tried to make a mental note to ask Hunter, but since this was a dream, I didn't think I'd actually remember.

I dressed quickly and looked in the mirror as I did my hair. I looked like a nerd. I was pudgy, bordering on overweight. I had the barest beginnings of curves. Puberty hadn't truly hit me yet. I couldn't believe how different this younger version of me looked from the current version. I looked so innocent and so very, very different.

I grabbed my bookbag off of the floor and headed out of the house. This place was supposed to be home, but it didn't feel like it. I never felt like I truly belonged here. It just felt like somewhere I was trapped until I could escape to college. I knew they weren't my real family. I was told from an early age not to ask questions about why they had taken me in. I just accepted that I was doomed to live with them until I could escape to college. It was only a few more years. Just the rest of 8th grade and all of high school. Surely, that couldn't take that long…

I was purposely skipping breakfast. If I ate less, I could hopefully lose some of this pudgyness. Maybe I could look like one of the popular girls if I just lost some weight.If only I had known then what the future would hold.

"Adi, mom's going to be pissed you didn't wait for us!" a male voice called from behind me. I turned to see who it was. It was an older boy in the St. Hubert's uniform. He had pointy brown hair and was thin and looked popular. Caleb, my brain supplied. He was a distant cousin. We had basically grown up as siblings since his parents had taken me in after my parents died in the fire. I was terrified of him. I recalled that he took the bullying part of being an older brother too far quite frequently. He was also the favorite child, so he was believed over me. Every time. No matter what evidence I had of what he had done to me.

"Like she'd care," I mumbled to myself, softly enough that he, and the girl leaving the house behind him, couldn't hear. She was thin and pretty and blonde. She was younger than me, but not by much. She was in the same grade, but she was the popular cheerleader. Her name was Mary.

Mary was on her phone, texting already as she and Caleb caught up with me. I didn't want to walk to school with them; I was the odd one out among them. I was overweight and loved books. I had red hair, unlike anyone else in the family. I wasn't athletic at all. I just didn't belong. Then there were the stories I wrote in my free time about the unicorns and shapeshifters. I'd been sent to more than one shrink over them. My stories were too detailed that my aunt assumed I thought they were real. They felt real, like something I should remember. The unicorns felt so real. I could write in detail about how they call everyone 'friend' because they are so open and welcoming. How even in their human forms, they had horns. I knew the avians kept their children in rooms with closed windows so the wind couldn't blow them away by their untrained wings. I didn't know how I knew these things, but it just seemed so real.

"What was that, fatty?" Caleb asked when he caught up. I just shook my head, trying to ignore him.

"Nothing," I replied. I adjusted my bag on my shoulder and kept walking. I hoped he wouldn't push the subject. I didn't feel like getting yelled at when he told his mom. It was pointless. He would tell her something to get me in trouble regardless. Thankfully, he let the subject drop for now. He continued to tease me as we made our way to school. Luckily for me, the walk was only fifteen minutes. Once we got to campus, they separated and went to find their own friends.I sighed in relief. I didn't have to deal with them anymore until we got home tonight. The campus looked exactly the same as I had seen it earlier today, confirming my theory that I had gone to St. Hubert's before all of this mess.

"Hurry up, Adia!" a boy waved at me from the steps of the school.

"We're going to be late!" the girl next to him called. Friends, I remembered. These were my friends: Michael and Paige. They'd been my friends since kindergarten. Paige had attached herself to me on the first day of kindergarten. She was athletic, but not preppy about it. Michael and Paige had grown up next door to each other, so they had always been friends. I rushed to catch up with them. The school was massive, since there were six years worth of students here. At least we weren't lowly 7th graders anymore. We’d finally made it to 8th grade. Our first class of the day was Latin, I remembered, as we all headed up to class. I also remembered how boring I thought Latin was at the time. I was only thirteen. I didn't seen the point of studying a dead language. I knew better now, but I didn't then, and once class started, I found myself looking around the classroom bored.

I noticed someone familiar across the room. Looking closer, I realized it was a younger Hunter. Right behind him was Carl. They had been in the same class as me, but I hadn't seemed to know them then. They didn't seem to know me either. It also hadn't seemed when I met them that they had remembered me from before.

In the dream, I lived through that school day. There was a pang in my heart. I hadn't appreciated my life then. I hadn't appreciated school, my friends, my family, or the learning I could have until it was ripped away from me. I couldn't remember the four years I'd been with Kieran, but I knew it was awful. I knew it was nothing like the life I watched in the dream.

The scene shifted again and I found myself sitting behind the circulation desk of the school library. I remembered that I had worked in the library during my study hall. Paige did too. It seemed strange to me now that Paige had always been in all of my classes. It hadn't seemed strange at the time. It had seemed like a lucky coincidence. She was sitting at one of the giant library tables working on her homework. That's usually what the library workers did. It was just much nicer up here in the quiet library than it was down in the crowded cafeteria.

A boy I didn't recognize came up to the circulation desk. It was strange to see new people, it was usually the same kids who came up to the library during their study hall every day. He was overly pale, even for this school of nerds. I noticed Paige watching him closely, overprotectively as he approached me. "How can I help you?" I asked him cautiously. Something about him screamed that he was dangerous. I hadn't realized what it was then. He was a student, so I shouldn't be afraid of him, but something seemed off about him regardless.

"I don't know how to explain this," he said in barely above a whisper. We were in a library after all. I looked at him confused. Was he trying to ask me out? "We finally found you. We've been searching for years. We're not the only ones. I was sent here to warn you, which I can't do with your bodyguard around. Meet me in the music room at lunch." He had glanced at Paige when he said 'bodyguard'. I wondered what he meant. Who had been looking for me? What kind of trick was he trying to play on me?

"Why should I? And warn me about what?" I demanded. Sneaking off alone with strange boys seemed like a terrible idea. I felt brave telling him off for trying to trick me. This had to be some nasty trick by the popular crowd. Caleb probably put him up to whatever it was.He opened his mouth in a smile. I saw a flash of fangs. For some reason, his canines were longer than the rest of his teeth. I hadn't understood then what it meant, and my brain insisted that I had seen it wrong.

"Because I can tell you about the fire," he told me a second before he turned and walked out of the library.

He knew! He knew something about the fire. I kept dreaming about the fire, the kind man, my real parents. My aunt insisted it was just a house fire, but that never seemed true or real. We never spoke of it. No one here should have known about it. That boy knew something about it. I had to find out what he knew.

The scene changed again and I was in the music room, waiting for the boy. It had been harder than I thought to get away from my friends, but I had managed.

The boy finally showed up and looked relieved that I was alone. It was also lucky that the classroom was empty. I figured he had planned that far ahead at least."What do you know?" I demanded as soon as he entered. It wouldn't take long before Paige came looking for me.

"Pushy little thing, aren't you?" he rolled his eyes and took a seat."Like I said earlier, I was sent here to warn you, which is going to be difficult, since you think you're human and don't remember any of us…" he grumbled at me, like everything was my fault.

"I am human!" What on earth was he smoking if he thought I wasn't human? He scoffed.

"Sure, the daughter of Adalia and Lazarus is human. Listen up, girl, just because you think you're human, and don't remember what you are, doesn't mean you're safe. Your perfect little life is a lie. I don't care that you won't believe me. I was sent by our king to warn you." I huffed at him, but for some reason I felt compelled to listen to him. There was an edge of truth to his words, even if they were harsh. Maybe it was _because_ they were so harsh. "Your real parents died in the fire. The mage who saved you sent you to those humans after erasing your memory of our world. All of the different tribes have been looking for you since. The unicorns you write about? They're real. They've sent scouts out too to try to find you." He'd read my writing? Sure, I posted my stories online for readers and reviews, but I used a pen-name. How had he known it was me? "Someone is going to find you soon, but it's not just your friends who are looking for you. If I could find you this easily, so could the rest of the vampires." He paused a moment, while I tried to process what he was saying. It was so crazy, but it felt like it made so much sense. I didn't fit in with my family at all. My stories always seemed so real. Was there actually a chance that they were?

"If this is true, then who were my parents?" I demanded. This was either some trick, or it was somehow true.Either way, I knew I had to hear him out and listen to what he had to say.

"Adalia and Lazarus were vampires.” He said as if I were stupid. I didn't know what to think of that, besides that he was obviously crazy. Vampires couldn't be real, could they?

"Vampires don't exist," I tried to convince myself by saying the words out loud. He moved impossibly fast and was instantly in front of me. I hadn't even seen him move. He was suddenly in my face with his fangs bared. I knew, in that instant what he was, and that he hadn't been lying.

"We're real, princess," he snarled "and the strongest among us is after you,"


	4. Now

There was a bell ringing loudly throughout the building and I woke shrieking, still feeling the aftermath emotions from the dream.In a panicked haze, I leapt from the bed and ran, intending to get as far away from what had scared me as possible. My fleeing was cut short at the door when I heard the thunder of feet in the hallway.

"Calm down, Adi, you're safe," Hunter said overly calmly and patiently as he approached. He moved slowly, calmly, holding his hands out to show me he was unarmed. I focused on him and forced my breathing to slow. I took a look around while I was regaining my calm. Carl was keeping the rest of the boys away from this end of the hallway. I realized that they had instinctively come to help when they had heard my screams.

I didn't remember opening the door or going in to the hallway. I barely remembered leaping out of bed. My legs felt extremely uncomfortable, though. I looked down and started hyperventilating again. I was halfway through the door.Literally _in_ the door.My body was halfway through the wood of the door! The door wasn't broken. It hadn't been opened. I had literally passed through the door, except now I was stuck halfway through.

Hunter moved closer. "Breathe," he told me softly, calmly. "It's alright, just breathe, we'll get you out of there," he promised softly. He sounded so calm and sure that I relaxed."Good, now you're going to have to trust me. I promise I won't hurt you." He held his hands out and looked like he was contemplating something. I took his offered hands carefully, hesitantly.

/I wouldn't coddle any of the boys here by doing it for them. I shouldn't coddle her either/ I heard his thoughts clearly, now that we were in physical contact. The memory flashed that physical contact helped with mind reading.

“Good," He smiled reassuringly at me. You could see he was putting more effort into his calm demeanor than he would with any of the others he had taught.”Using magic on purpose is always complicated at first," that didn't help me feel like I was capable of doing this… "but you can do it. You had the power to get yourself in there. You have the power to get back out again. Imagine that the door isn't there. Imagine that you're already standing in open space." I closed my eyes and obeyed his order. "Reach inside, look for your magic, your power." I didn't understand, but I imagined a glowing purple ball in my mind. "Send the power into the parts that are stuck and will your legs to move." I imagined what he said and tried to move my legs, but they were still stuck solidly in the door. I looked up at him pleadingly with tears in my eyes. I was terrified that I would stay stuck. He looked so sad, so heartbroken for one moment before he squared his features. "Try again," he seemed to hate forcing me to do this on my own.

I forced myself to focus and felt a spark inside of me. I sent that spark to my stuck legs and tried again to move them. I went sprawling the rest of the way through the door and into Hunter's waiting arms. He carefully steadied me. He was so calm about it, and so very, very careful. He made sure not to touch me more than he had to. He stepped back once I was steady. He stiffened as I unconsciously shrank back from him, shaking, recoiling from his touch. He didn't approve. He didn't like how I felt, or the hints of memory and fear they brought, but he wouldn't deny me my feelings either.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" He asked the question, but his tone said that I didn't have a choice. I sighed, resigned, and tried to gather my thoughts. He watched me calmly, waiting for my explanation. I had to figure out how to explain things to him, now that I had calmed down and reminded myself that he wasn't going to hurt me. "I know you've been through way too much. I know none of this is fair. But I can't help you unless you tell me what happened, what scared you so much,"

"I know." I told him softly."I had a dream." I began and slowly, carefully explained my dream to him. It was hard to explain and I only barely understood, but I explained it as best as I was able. I told him everything, including how I knew it was really my memories, and not really a dream. "Then I panicked when the really loud bell rang." I finally finished my looked calm as I explained myself. I watched him through my bangs as I explained. I felt like I was waiting for him to hit me.

"It seems like you're starting to get your memories back," he finally said. It was obvious he had more thoughts on what I told him, but he wouldn't tell me what they were until he had sorted them out. I jumped when the bell tolled again. He swore. "Damn. That's the breakfast bell. We should hurry up and get dressed or there won't be anything left besides porridge." He made a face. He obviously didn't like porridge. "Can you get back in your room?" He asked me. I shook my head. I didn't have the key. He nodded and stepped towards the door. "I'll show you how to do this later." With a wave of his hand, the door unlocked and swung open. "Don't worry. It won't break Maester Wright's shield spell," he assured me, when he saw my worried expression. "Please hurry. I really don't want porridge again." With that comment, he disappeared back into his own room to get dressed. He must _really_ hate porridge.

I entered my room and carefully dressed in one of the uniforms we got yesterday, thinking over my dream.It didn't take long to get dressed, and I made sure to grab my key on the way out. I wasn't surprised to see Hunter waiting for me. At least he didn't seem like he had been waiting long. He gave me a quick smile before he briskly turned to head to breakfast. I scurried to catch up with him. He wasn't waiting for me, but he wasn't being mean about it. He was just hungry. I smiled as I rushed to catch up with him. I could understand a hungry male.

When we got to breakfast, I realized quickly that Hunter's worries were unfounded. There was plenty of food left. We both had huge plates of food when we went to join Carl at his table. I smiled at Carl, who looked up when we got close enough for him to notice us.

"I see you made it through your magical ordeal unscathed." Carl grinned at me. I felt my cheeks turn red as I took my seat across from him.

"I-I'm sorry I worried you," I told him, scared he was mad at me for making him run to rescue me this morning. I felt terrible for what happened, even though I knew logically that it wasn't my fault. I hadn't had any idea that I'd had magic. I still wasn't sure what it meant.I didn't understand any of what was going was all too overwhelming.

"It's ok. All of us have had mistakes when learning to use our magic. Hell, Hunter got stuck for a week when he was learning how to shapeshift. You probably didn't even know you had magic until you found out the hard way this morning. Even though I know Hunter could see it on you, and he probably should have warned you." Hunter glared at Carl across the table.

"It's too early to be telling her embarrassing stories about me," he protested as he downed his coffee. He looked at me a little more solemnly. "Though Carl's right. I should have warned you. I just didn't want to add any more burdens than you already had yesterday. Since your magic is manifesting itself, though, we're going to have to train you." I really wished I knew that was going on.

I miserably ate my breakfast.I was grateful for the food, but my mind was preoccupied. I knew what they told me about the vampires and magic was real. I didn't know what to do and I hated that the only thing I could do, was do what I was told. Carl looked me over, with a strange expression on his face.

"You weren't crazy yesterday. You did see me turn into a wolf. I'm a werewolf," he reminded me suddenly. I looked up at him confused. How had he known I'd been thinking about how he'd turned into a wolf.

"Werewolves are real too?" I had seen one with my own eyes but it still felt strange to admit that werewolves were real.

"That's part of why those guys hate me. They're werewolves too and they think all werewolves should be straight," he shrugged. "Point is, you're not crazy." Another bell rang and the boys scrambled to their feet to get rid of their breakfast dishes and rush out of the room. Carl stood with them."I'll see you two later." He waved at us and rushed off.

"Where is he going?" I asked Hunter softly. I was terrified to bring up conversation with him. It was so hard, but he looked at me with such hope and pride when I did start conversations and did begin to speak to him. He smiled at me. I felt my heart flutter and my cheeks started to turn red.

"He has class," Hunter explained. The rest of the boys were all leaving too. I assumed they were going to class as well. At my confused expression, he continued. "The school thinks I'm in England at my grandmother's funeral. Maester Wright thought it would be easier if I didn't have to leave you for class. Don't worry, my grandmother is fine and my grades are high enough, all my teachers are letting me out of taking finals next week." Once all the boys were gone, Hunter stood. "We need to meet with Maester Wright. Are you ready?"

I wasn't ready, but I stood anyway and put my dirty dishes away, following Hunter’s lead.He led me through the maze of identical hallways and I was well and truly lost by the time we stood in front of a giant set of double doors. "This is Maester Wright's office." Hunter opened one of the doors.

"Hunter? Adianna? Come in!" we were bid from inside the scary-looking office. I hesitantly, cautiously followed Hunter inside. He seemed worried, but not nervous about the room itself. It seemed like he was more nervous about how this conversation would go. I took in the room as we entered. It was spacious, but comfortable. All of the walls and every horizontal surface in the room were covered in books. I tore my attention away from the stack of books to the large wooden desk and the middle aged man sitting behind it. The man stood slowly, cautiously. He was watching me like I might bolt from him in fear. He stayed on his side of the desk. He seemed to be trying to prove to me that he was safe and wasn't going to hurt me.

"Welcome to St. Hubert's, Miss Kincaid," the man greeted me. I looked him over again, trying to place him. He looked so familiar. I was wringing my hands nervously as I took another step into the room. It felt like I was expected to say something, though.

"T-thank you, sir," I stuttered and looked firmly at the floor. Hunter stiffened beside me. I had the feeling he didn't like my extra formality and nervousness. He wanted to protect me, and couldn't protect me from this fear.

"Have a seat, youngling. We have a lot to discuss,” Maester Wright bid us. Hunter walked with me to the two plush arm chairs in front of the desk. Hunter took a seat and Maester Wright quickly followed suit. They both nodded to me and I carefully, hesitantly took the remaining seat. I sat on it gingerly, worried about hurting the chair, or angering the men.

/She’s so skittish. Are you sure she's adjusting?/ I heard Maester Wright ask Hunter. I still wished I knew why Maester Wright seemed so familiar.Had I had my memories back, I probably could have placed it.Hopefully.

/As well as can be was a vampire's slave. Kieran's slave at that. It doesn't help that I erased her memories. I'm surprised she's adjusting as well as she is, actually/ Hunter replied. Neither of them had moved during this exchange and neither was there any indication that they knew I could hear them. /She has magic and needs to be taught/

/She will be/ Maester Wright replied.

/She walked through a door this morning/ Hunter replied dryly. Maester Wright looked a bit shocked, but I could only tell because I was looking for it. I had been expecting some kind of reaction to that piece of information.All of this had gone by so quickly that it seemed like no time had passed at all. That was one of the perks of telepathic communication.

"Miss Kincaid, my name is Maester-"

"William!" I exclaimed, then clapped my hands over my traitorous mouth. I shouldn't have spoken out of turn, but I finally remembered where I knew Maester Wright from. I don't know how I knew his name, but he was the big man who had rescued me from the fire all of those years ago.

Maester Wright just smiled warmly, reassuringly. “Yes, my name is William.” Hunter looked between us confused.

"You were there at the fire," I blurted out. Stupid traitorous mouth.Shut the fuck up before you got us hit.Or worse.But I remembered him. I remembered the big man who had saved me from the fire when I was looking for my parents.He nodded.

"Do you remember the fire?" he asked gently, eyes were so kind and warm that I couldn't help trusting him.

"Only a little. I remember you saving me, but that's all." I told him softly. I looked down, scared that my answer would anger him.

"Tell me what you remember," he ordered gently. I don't think he meant for the words to come out as an order, though Hunter glared at him across the desk for giving me an order, when Hunter himself had been so carefully avoiding doing the same. I hesitated for a moment before I began. I told him everything I remembered so far.

Maester Wright looked concerned."There are things I'd rather you had remembered first than the fire, but that's what we have to work with.” He rummaged in one of his desk drawers and pulled out a small journal like notebook and handed it to me."I'd like for you to write down everything you remember. Keep track of everything. I'm sure everything you're remembering is important.” I took the book from him with a nod and opened was a simple lined journal and it seemed like this was a good idea."I'd like for you to tell me more when you begin to remember." I nodded again. "My office is always open to you and you're safe here.Vampires can’t enter this building, and no one can enter your room without your express permission.” He looked me over more closely. "Hunter, have you taken her back to the healers yet?" Hunter shook his head. "They want to check up on her. Take her to the matron of the girls' dorm. I think a female healer would be better for her.” Hunter nodded. "Hunter has indicated that you have will begin training you in how to use and control your magic. This is vitally important.Magic that isn’t trained, isn't used, will go out of control and do unpredictable things.We will also begin self defense and fighting training for you.” I nodded, overwhelmed by the amount of change happening all at once.“We will help you rebuild your life.I promise.Once Kieran is taken care of, we’ll move you to the girls' dorm and let you start attending classes next school year."

"I-I don't have to go back to my aunt's?" I asked timidly. I really did _not_ want to go back there.Maester Wright shook his head.

"No. That's not a good idea. We should not have placed you there when you were six. It wouldn't do to send you there now. I erased your aunt's and cousins' memories after you were taken. They don't remember you ever lived with them.We should have moved you in to the girls' dorm after the fire. I thought putting you with your family, however distantly you were related, would be better for you until we could safely reintegrate you into our world.It was my mistake and it was a huge disservice to you. I swear to you that I will not make such a grave mistake again."

/Won’t the others come looking for her? The werewolves already know she's here, and we know what she is. The others will too/ Hunter thought at Maester Wright.

/We will deal with them when they come. She will be safe here, but we need to allow her access to both the human and Other's world. We will let them come here to see her. It will be safe and everyone will get what they want./

/If they Others find her, Kieran will be able to as well/

/Kieran will regardless. We will deal with Kieran as soon as we can find him/ Maester Wright snapped, ending the conversation at least until he added: /Until then, we keep Adianna safe and begin her training/

I cringed at the word 'training'. It hurt me to remember what that word meant. Both of them looked over at me when I cringed. The conversation snapped off abruptly. They realized I could hear them. I blushed and looked down, expecting to be hit or scolded.

"That was my fault. I should have realized you could hear us. We're not angry with you, youngling. This is why you need to be taught how to control your magic," Maester Wright explained gently. I looked up and him with a small grateful smile. "I think that's enough exposition for one morning. Hunter, take her to the Matron at the girls' dorm. Come find me if you need anything," he bid us both. I knew a dismissal when I heard one, and quickly scrambled to my feet. Hunter was slower, but he got to his feet as well and led us out of the office. I clutched my new journal to my chest as we walked.

"Are you ok?" Hunter asked me, looking me over closely as we walked downstairs to the campus exit. I nodded." I know that was a lot of information all at once…"

"I'm ok," I reassured him. He smiled.

"There's going to be a lot more people on campus now than there were yesterday," he warned me as he opened the front door and held it for me. We walked out into the bright sunlight and I just stared up at it in awe for a moment, enjoying the warm summer air and slight breeze. Hunter didn't press me, or push me to move faster. He waited patiently while I enjoyed the warmth and bright sun. It seemed like a long time since I had properly seen the sun. Finally, I was ready to move on, and we headed back to the girls' dorm. It was a comfortable walk across campus. I stayed close to Hunter. He didn't say anything about it, but kept his hands in his pockets as he walked. I was safe with him.

A bell rang from inside the academic buildings. Suddenly, hundreds of students were pouring out of classrooms to go to their next class. Hunter quickly moved us to a small fountain. There were so many people coming to pass us to go to the other buildings as they switched classes. They were so loud and chatting, all identically dressed in their uniforms. They were heading towards us, and I was beginning to panic. "Adi, will you allow me to help you?" Hunter asked. I looked at him confused. Next to the fountain we were standing by was a chest-high brick wall. He nodded at it. "Let me help you up there. You'll be safer from the crowd." I gave him a tiny nod. I knew he wouldn't hurt me. He moved us closer to the wall and carefully lifted me with his hands on my waist, sitting me up on the wall. He was right, I was safer up here. He swiftly climbed up onto the wall after me. The students gave our wall a wide berth. We were safe.

The bell tolled again and all of the students disappeared back into the classrooms. After a second of quiet, Hunter hopped gracefully back down to the ground. "Are you ok?" he asked gently. I nodded, trying to figure out how to get down from the wall without hurting myself. It seemed too far to jump. He hesitated before he asked "Would you like me to help you down?" I swallowed my fear and nodded. I knew that Hunter wasn't going to hurt me. If he was going to hurt me, he would have done so already. I had to keep reminding myself that he wasn't going to hurt me. Hunter reached up, and carefully helped me back to the ground. The moment I was safely on the ground, he dropped his hands, so he wasn't touching me anymore. I smiled at him, acknowledging his effort to keep me as comfortable as possible. "Let's go, there's still a lot to do today." I nodded and followed him as he continued towards the girls' dorm.

We finally made it, and I was glad to be back in the relative safety of a building. "The healer works on the main floor," Hunter explained as he led me through the girls' dorm. I wondered briefly why he knew his way around here so well. I pushed that thought from my mind as he opened a door and motioned me inside. I stepped forward carefully, wondering what I was getting myself in to. The room was extremely clean with medical equipment and a comfy looking bed and chair. There was also a woman dressed in white was older and thin. She seemed really kind and safe.

"Hello dears. Maester Wright said you would be coming by. Adianna, correct? And little Hunter as an escort." Hunter grinned and gave the woman a small bow.

"Yes ma'am." He replied formally.

"I'm Healer Mary," the woman told me gently. "Maester Wright mentioned that you were hurt by the vampires. My assistant Healer Claire and I will take good care of you. Hunter can wait for you right outside the door." I looked over at him concerned. I didn't want my protector leaving me alone with strangers. Why couldn't he stay? Hunter smiled at me, reassuringly.

"It's ok, Adi. No one will get past me, but I'm sure the Healers will need to see more of your body than you will be comfortable having a male see. None of the Healers will hurt you, it goes against their very natures. I'll be right outside the door. You'll be safe." He promised with such sincerity that I couldn't help but trust that it was true. He had promised to be my protector. He wouldn't let anything hurt me. I nodded my agreement to his plan. He smiled and left the room as the other Healer entered. She was barely older than me, only a couple of years. Her white robes were trimmed with black. She smiled at me, all sunshine and butterflies.

"Hi! I'm Assistant Healer Claire!" She followed my eyes toward the black trim on her robes. "Assistants have to have black trim to show that they aren't proper Healers yet. I can't wait to get rid of mine!" The older woman, Mary, glared at her.

"Claire, we're here to heal this poor girl," she scolded as she closed the blinds. Mary closed the door firmly. We were alone and there was no way anyone could see what was going on in this room. That thought scared me, but these two women were so calm, caring, and gentle that I felt that I didn't have to bolt from the claustrophobia. "Dearie, I know this is hard for you, and a lot to ask with what you've been through, but we do need to see the damage before we can properly heal you." I knew what she was asking for. I hated doing it. I felt like this had been a common demand, like I had been expected to do it frequently. I hesitated only a moment longer before beginning to undress. My consciousness seemed to hide at the back of my mind, hiding away from what I had to do. They stopped me when I was standing in front of them in my underwear. "That's far enough." Mary told me gently. Claire was staring at me in horror.

"What happened to her?" she demanded of Mary, horrified by my appearance.

"She was abused by a vampire," Mary glared at the girl to make her be quiet. Claire wasn't helping the situation. Mary handed her the laptop to take notes and sent her to the comfy chair as she looked me over carefully. She started listing off my wounds to Claire to note. They included whip wounds and scars, malnourishment, bruises, cuts, sores, blisters, sprained muscles. She made notes of previous beatings, broken bones, wounds that hadn't healed properly. She also noted the wounds around my neck as if something had chaffed the skin until it was raw and bleeding. When she was finished, she handed me a robe. It was pale purple and a comfortable plush material. I slipped it on gratefully. "Lay down in the bed, dear, we'll begin the healing webs.” I did as she told me, gently laying down on the bed. I was scared to be in such a position, but I tried not to let them notice my fear. I closed my eyes, so I didn't have to watch them. I felt it, though, as they brought up the magical webs under the bed. The magic seeped into me and began to rebuild my injured body.

I lost track of time as the healing webs worked their magic. It felt like forever before I came back to proper consciousness. "We did all we could for today. You did great today. We'll have Hunter take you back to the dorm. You'll be exhausted from the healing. Don't worry; it's normal."

"You should be feeling better, though!" Claire added enthusiastically. I was feeling better. None of the wounds were open anymore. It felt like they had done some rebuilding of my muscles and the old wounds that hadn't healed properly.

"Thank you for all of your help," I told them tiredly as I stood from the bed. I swayed on my feet. Healings were exhausting. It took the patient's energy on top of the healers' energy to heal the body, especially the old wounds that they were healing. Claire helped me get dressed again. I was too tired to be embarrassed. Mary opened the door again so Hunter could come back in.

"She may need help back to her own bed. I would suggest she stay here, but with the vampire in question being Kieran, your side of campus is going to be safer for her." I felt myself swaying. My eyes were too heavy and I could barely concentrate on the conversation. Hunter rushed to my side. I reached out to him and grabbed his arm to steady myself. He smiled gently at me. It was ok to be touched if I initiated it.

"C'mon Adi, let's get you back to bed," his words were gentle and his tone was caring. I gave him a small, grateful, smile. He'd make sure everything was ok. He thanked the healers and led me from the healing room. I felt drunk and sluggish, dizzy, and exhausted. I swayed and tripped, crashing into Hunter. I made a small noise as he scooped me up into his arms. “Shh, you’re safe.I’m not going to hurt you,” he told me softly.“You’re safe with me, Adi, I swear,” he promised and I heard the open sincerity in his words. I couldn’t help but believe him.He carried me from the dorm as if I weighed nothing. I'm sure to him, I really didn't weigh anything. It took a minute, but I finally relaxed again, the healing exhaustion pulling me into sleep. I wasn't comfortable with him touching me, but I was safe and he was careful and so warm that I couldn't help dozing off in his arms.


	5. Then

I knew the second I fell asleep that I had fallen into a memory dream. I found myself in a field with two tall vampires, my parents. The sun was out and shining brightly. They were hiding from the sun under dark umbrellas.I realized that they weren’t exceptionally tall, I was young again. Maybe 5 years old. I don’t know where this memory could have come from. I shouldn’t be able to remember things from that long ago. Especially from before Maester Wright’s original lock on my memories.

I was waiting impatiently at the edge of the field, unsure what was going to happen, but I was super excited for it. On the other side of the field, three figures appeared. My parents led me toward them. I was excited and bouncing to meet them. The smallest figure ran to meet us and I ran forward to meet her and we met at the middle of the field in a clash of excited five year olds. I found that I wasn’t surprised at all that she had a unicorn horn and hooved feet. She was my height, with long mother-of-pearl hair, and sapphire blue eyes. Her hooves and horn were the same mother-of-pearl: white with hints of pink and blue.

“Hi new friend!” she greeted me, brightly. “My name is Larissa. Mama said a new friend was coming today!” I grinned at her in reply.

“My name is Adianna,” I replied, just as happily.

The girl’s parents had joined us and my parents had caught up.“That is a very lovely unicorn name. It means ‘dream-wish’ in our tongue,” Larissa’s mom said kindly. They were both unicorns too, though they were in the same half-human form as their daughter.

“You two go play, the grown-ups need to talk,” my mom told me. I grinned at my new friend and we ran off into the flowery field to play. The adults didn’t look happy, but were tolerating each other. 

“C’mon Friend-Adianna!” Larissa grabbed my hand and dragged me through the flowers. “Your horn is really pretty. I’m glad you’re one of us!” I reached up instinctively and realized there was a unicorn horn in the middle of my own forehead. It felt normal, though, and I enjoyed playing with Larissa.

Unfortunately, the day came to an end and I had to leave my new friend. “Goodbye, Sister-Adi!” she bid me before she left with parents. I knew it was important that she had changed my title from ‘friend’ to ‘sister’, but I didn’t have a chance to ask her what the change meant.

The scene blurred and changed around me. My parents were still with me, but we weren’t in unicorn lands this time. I was playing with an avian girl with big wings and she was teaching me to fly while our parents looked on. Her name was Della. She was brunette with big brown feathered wings. We were fluttering only a couple of feet above the ground. I didn’t know why I suddenly had wings, but it seemed perfectly natural at the time. I wasn’t sure if it was the dream making it seem real, or if it was truly natural to me. The only thing I was sure of, was that these memories were real.

The scene changed again. I was running through the woods with a werewolf puppy with gray fur. Her name was Bryanne. We were running in half-wolf form through the woods, all wolf-ears and tails. She was teaching me how to properly use my nose. I could tell she thought I was slow for not knowing already. We romped and ran until we heard her father’s howl calling us back to where the parents were all waiting. “We allow you to visit, leeches, because you bring the Chosen One with you. We will not tolerate your kind without her,” Bryanne’s father snarled at my parents before we left. I wondered what the problem was. My parents were perfectly nice people.

Images kept flashing through my memory, swimming with mermaids, magic lessons with the mages, running with the centaurs, playing with the felis, the cat people. I remembered being included and welcomed by all of the tribes we met with. My parents were tolerated, only because of my presence. I was too young to understand it at the time, but I realized it looking back at my memories. They were only allowed because of me. Why was I so special?

*

The scenes changed again and I found myself back in school. It was the same school year I remembered previously, but it was later in the year. Michael, Paige, and I had stayed late with a couple of the boarding students to work on a group project. I was glad to be away from my family for the evening. I even had a convenient excuse to skip dinner. I cursed my past self again for wanting to skip meals to lose weight. My family wouldn’t miss me at dinner, and wouldn’t double check that I had actually eaten something. They didn’t care.

It was after twilight before the three of us left the library. It was obviously much later in the semester than my last memory of this place. It was only 5pm and the sun was already setting. Something felt wrong about this evening, but I couldn’t place what it was. We walked back towards my place, chit-chatting about boys, classes, school, some dumb TV show everyone was obsessed with. Whatever the conversation was, it was stupid and teenage and normal. 

We cut through the park on the way home. It was a short-cut; one we technically weren’t supposed to use, but it was safe enough in a group. Besides, it wasn’t really dark out yet. We would be perfectly safe and it cut out so much time. If only we’d known…

While we walked, a shape stepped out of the shadows in front of us. Michael, Paige, and I all stepped closer to each other. We wisely didn’t trust strangers, too many things could happen in the dark, even the twilight dark like this. The shape was big enough to be a grown man. There was no reason for a grown man to be in the park without any kids at twilight. He was definitely alone, and definitely a grown man. We kept walking, hoping he’d leave us alone.

“What are three students doing out this far from campus?” he asked as we approached. Michael and Paige both relaxed. He sounded like a security guard from campus.

“We’re just heading home from working at the library,” Paige explained primly. We usually let her handle things if we got questioned by adults while out on childhood mischief.She could do a prim and proper act well enough to trick any of the adults.“We live off campus,” she added, as if that would make it better. We were obviously students. We were wearing the school uniform after all, and we were only a couple of blocks off campus. He didn’t seem much like a security guard or a teacher. I didn’t recognize him.He was tall, thin, well-built with long dark hair tied back in a ponytail. He was too pale. That stuck out to me. He should have looked sickly with how pale he was, but he didn’t. He seemed strong and powerful, almost _too_ healthy. The other strange thing about him was his eyes. They were too blue, a sapphire so blue that they seemed to glow.

Four more men came out of the shadows behind us. There were five of them now. “Our parents are expecting us home now. We really need to be going,” Paige added quickly, trying to sound less scared than she, we, obviously felt. She took my hand. Michael moved closer to us and tried to rush us past the first man. The other four moved up quickly, surrounding us. Michael tried to push his way past them, but they wouldn’t budge. He would’ve had better luck shoving his way through a wall.

“Let us go,” Michael insisted. He was trying to sound tougher, older, stronger than he was. He was trying to intimidate the men around us. It didn’t work. At a nod from the first man, two of the other four grabbed Michael, ripping him away from us. The other two grabbed Paige and pulled her away too. They struggled, but couldn’t get free from the men. I was left standing alone, petrified in front of the first man. My friends were struggling, but the men were stronger and holding them still and silent with their hands clasped over my friends’ mouths.

There were tears of terror in my eyes.I was only thirteen.Just an overweight bookworm of a kid.

“W-what do you want?” I asked him, staring up, terrified, into his sapphire eyes. He grinned down at me, showing elongated canines, like fangs.

“You, my dear.” He took a step closer to me. I stepped back in fear. “I have been looking for you for a long, long time. I hadn’t thought they would hide you among the humans. It’s no matter. I’ve found you now,” I had no idea what he meant, or why he would want me. I didn’t know how to get us out of this situation, either. “Let’s be reasonable here. You know you’re outnumbered. I have no interest in those two humans. You’re the only one I want.I can have them killed without a second thought, and it wouldn’t hurt me any to do that, but you care for them. I will make you a deal. It is a very generous offer, so do not take my words lightly, little human. If you come with me, without a fight, of your own free will, I will allow them to go free without harm. I will not hurt them. I will not kill them. I will not go after them.” He spoke the words slowly, tantalizingly.Almost hypnotically.He seemed so convincing. There was still something off about him, something off about the way he kept calling us humans, like he wasn’t human. “We are all vampires,” he answered my unasked question. “They cannot fight us and we could drain their blood dry before you could run. Think hard about my offer, or do their lives mean so little to you?”

I knew then that he was telling the truth. His words shook me to my core. I saw all of their fangs. I saw how pale they were, how their eyes nearly glowed, and were getting brighter as the light faded. They could kill my friends in an instant. The second I realized his words were true, I knew what I had to do. I looked over both of my friends, with pain, fear, and apology in my eyes.They would never forgive me for this, but it was the only way.

“I-I’ll go with you,” I told the vampire. I was terrified, but there was no other choice.“Please, let my friends go,” my voice broke as I pled with him, begging for my friends’ lives. Michael and Paige were both yelling behind their captors’ hands. I couldn’t look at them again. My resolve was only so strong.

I was only thirteen.

“Good choice,” he told me. “Come along. We will leave your friends safely on campus.” The four vampires dragged my friends, kicking and yelling back to campus. No one came to investigate the entire way back to campus, which seemed strange.Someone should have noticed five men with three captive teenagers. I followed behind the vampires. I didn’t have another choice. I could have run, but I knew if I did, my friends’ lives were forfeit. I couldn’t have escaped anyway.I knew it instinctively.They didn’t even bother watching me to make sure I was following.

We finally made it back to campus. The entire area was abandoned this late. It was eerie how few people were around. The sun had well and truly set, now. The only light was from the campus buildings and street lights. The vampires let my friends go as a black limo pulled up to us. They stayed nearby to remind us not to do anything stupid.

“Adi, don’t do this!” Paige begged. She ran up and hugged me, holding me tight. “I can fight them,” she whispered in to my ear. I shook my head.

“They’ll kill you. This is the only way,” I told both of them. Michael looked like he was going to protest. “They _will_ kill you,” I insisted. It was the truth and they both knew it.We were outmatched and outnumbered, even if they had been human.“I’ll be ok.” My words were brave, much braver than I felt. Whatever I was about to face had to be better than my friends dying. 

“Come along, pet,” the main vampire bid. I turned away from my friends, promising them that I would be ok. The vampires stopped my friends from following as I stepped closer to the vampire and the black limo. He held the door open for me and ushered me inside. He took my school bag from me. “You won’t need this anymore.” He handed it to one of the vampires. The vampire put my bag in the trunk and it felt like I was losing my lifeline to the real world.This all had to be a terrible nightmare. But it wasn’t.It was a memory of the past, and even at the time it wasn’t, unfortunately, a nightmare. 

The other vampires were keeping my friends back. I slipped into the limo, wondering what I had gotten myself into and hoping against hope that everything would be ok.


	6. Now

I came to, to the noise of someone shouting. It was a male someone. I snapped awake as a shape came running at Hunter. I was still cradled in Hunter’s arms. “Put her down, now!” the voice called as it came closer to us. Before I could even recognize what was happening, Hunter swung around, setting me carefully on my feet. He planted himself firmly in front of me and took the impact from the running shape, shielding me with his body.“Carl!” Hunter yelled. Instantly, Carl was beside me. “Keep Adi safe!” Hunter ordered. He threw the attacker over his hip and turned, preparing to face him again.

“C’mon, Adi,” Carl said calmly. He wrapped an arm around me, shielding me with his body as he led me over to a nearby wall. “We’ll be safe over there.” I realized that all I wanted to do was curl up with his wolf form. I knew it would be safe. “Don’t worry, Hunter will be ok. He can take care of himself, especially against a human teenager. If you still need comfort when we’re back at the dorm, I’ll shift forms for you,” he promised, once again reading my emotions.

“You don’t think it’s weird?” I asked him. He shook his head with a smile.

“Most shapeshifters find comfort in touch and very, very few are not willing to give that comfort when it is needed. It is nothing any of the werewolves will find strange at all. Most will be glad to help and they are safe to you in wolf form,” he reassured me. I gave him a small smile. I was still exhausted from the healing and found myself leaning against the wall and more surprisingly, against Carl. “You ok?” Carl asked, real concern in his eyes. I nodded.

“They did a healing over at the girls’ dorm,” I explained. My voice sounded hoarse and tired. I tried to focus back on the fight. It was hard to focus, but Hunter was in danger. I realized, that my worry was unfounded. Hunter had subdued the other boy, holding him on the ground. It was then I realized there was another girl watching the fight.

It took me a minute to recognize her. She was four years older now than the last time I’d seen her. “Paige!” I exclaimed and started towards her. Hunter let his hostage up, once the captive had calmed. He stood and brushed off his uniform. I recognized his floppy brown hair immediately. His hardened expression didn’t match my memory of him, though. “Michael?”I asked, taking a tentative step towards him.

“Careful,” Carl warned softly. His job was to protect me. He didn’t like me going towards the danger. He stayed by my side as I stared at my long lost friends in disbelief. I literally could not comprehend that they were really here. It just didn’t make sense.

“Adi? Is that really you?” Paige seemed just as disbelieving as I felt. She was gorgeous now, thin, but muscled, with long brown hair curling down her back.

Michael broke free of Hunter and ran towards me. I shrieked, holding my hands out in front of me, trying to ward him off. I couldn’t handle the thought of a male running towards me. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought he wouldn’t hurt me. That wasn’t enough to comfort me at the moment, though.

I felt power flood through me as a bubble of safety surrounded Carl and me. Michael hit the bubble full force. He crashed against it with a loud smack and fell to the ground. He turned and glared at Hunter.

“What did you do?” he demanded as he stood and brushed the dirt off of his pants. “Let me through to her!” he snarled at Hunter.

“It wasn’t me,” Hunter replied calmly. “You scared her. That is her power holding you away. Itried to warn you.” Michael growled again, but it was a human growl.Not a werewolf growl like Hunter and Carl could do.

 

“Adi, let me in!” He pounded on the bubble. I shrank back, running into Carl. Carl wrapped his warm arm around me, keeping me safe. I looked up at Carl, terrified.

For an instant, I saw myself in a nearby reflection from one of the campus building’s windows. I wasn’t human anymore. I was paler than I had been, with a unicorn horn, cat ears, a wolf tail, and small wings. I should have looked like a monster, but I didn’t. It seemed almost natural. A moment later, the image was gone, as if it had never been. The shocked expressions of those around me, indicated that it had truly happened, if only for that moment.

I would have to figure it out later.

It really didn’t make any sense.

“It’s ok. He can’t hurt you. He just missed you. It’s been four years. He doesn’t understand what you’ve been through, or why you can’t trust him yet,” Carl reminded me gently. I was grateful then that he was an empath. I didn’t have to try to explain myself. He could feel my emotions and answer my unasked questions. Paige came up and grabbed Michael, dragging him away from the shield.

“Give her some room.” She told Michael firmly. “You know she was taken by a vampire. A male vampire at that.” She glared at Michael and dragged him farther away from my bubble of safety. Michael looked horrified and finally calmed down at her words. She kept a hand on him, so he wouldn’t run again.

“Adi, can you drop the shield now?We should all go talk at the dorm where we’ll attract less attention,” Hunter suggested calmly. He was now standing next to Michael and Paige on the other side of my barrier.

/It’s ok. I won’t let him hurt you/ Hunter promised me, speaking directly to my mind where Michael and Paige couldn’t hear him. I nodded. I trusted Hunter. I felt my muscles relax. As I did, the power I had called dissipated back to wherever it had come from, leaving me just as exhausted as the healing had.

I sagged and Carl had to keep me on my feet. My eyes were heavy, it was so hard to focus. I swayed, dizzy and exhausted. Carl was warm and safe and he held me cradled against him. “What’s wrong with her? What did you do?” Michael demanded of Hunter again. Apparently he blamed everything on Hunter. Hunter ignored him and came over to Carl and me.

/You need help getting back to the dorm. Will you trust Carl enough for that task? I’d feel better if I could keep an eye on these two myself/ Hunter wanted his hands free so he could restrain Michael if necessary. He didn’t trust my old friends. I wasn’t sure I did either. I realized that he would handicap his fighting ability for my mental health if I wasn’t able to trust Carl yet. Carl was safe, though. He was warm, a werewolf, and he wouldn’t hurt me. He would protect me.

I nodded to Hunter. I wasn’t up for giving any better of an answer. Hunter understood, though, and gave me a smile. “Let’s get back to the dorm. Carl, will you help Adi?” Carl nodded and swept me up into his arms. I stiffened for a moment, before relaxing. Carl was safe. He was warm. He smelled of the forest and trees. It was relaxing.

“C’mon, lupita, let’s get you back to the nice safe dorm.” Carl said softly. His voice rumbled this close.

“Lupita?” I asked him softly. My voice sounded exhausted even to me. He smiled down at me. He was carrying me as if I weighed nothing. I guessed to a werewolf, I really didn’t weigh much.

“It means ‘little wolf’,” he explained as we headed back to the dorm. “You seemed like pack back there. In that instant.” I knew he was talking about the instant I didn’t appear human. I let him have his cute nickname. He already seemed like my older brother.

“Shouldn’t she be in our dorm?” Paige demanded of Hunter as they followed behind us.

“Maester Wright thought she would be safer in our dorm.” Hunter replied gruffly. Carl held me gently, I could barely feel that we were moving. Paige and Michael continued grumbling at Hunter all the way back. I ignored them, too tired to deal with their emotions. Hunter held the door open for us when we finally arrived back at the dorm. A wolf greeted us with a wagging tail when we entered. “Hi, Bryanne, thanks for coming,” Carl told her. She gave him one bark in reply.

“Adi, you should get some rest. Carl and I will tell your…friends what’s going on,” Hunter suggested. I nodded exhaustedly, still cradled safely in Carl’s arms. I let him carry me back to my dorm room. He set me gently on my feet outside the door.

“Bree will keep you company, if you want,” Carl offered. I looked at the wolf, realizing she was a werewolf.

“You don’t mind?” I asked her softly. She shook her head and rubbed herself against me. I smiled at the obvious display of friendship and caring. I stepped into my room and invited her inside.

“We’ll be right downstairs,” Carl told us. “Bree can contact us if you need anything.” He touched a finger to his forehead, indicating that she could contact him telepathically. I nodded again and closed the door behind us.

Bryanne politely kept her back turned while I changed into my pajamas, long pajama bottoms and a fwumpy t-shirt. The clothes were safe and comfortable. I climbed into bed, feeling exhaustion down to my bones. Bryanne whined from the floor and looked up at me plaintively. I patted the bed beside me. She hopped up and snuggled next to me. She offered me her warmth and the safety of a werewolf as bodyguard. I drifted back to sleep with my fingers wrapped in her fur.


	7. Then

The limo was large enough that at least ten people could sit in the back comfortably.The back was separated from the driver by a dark black piece of glass. I hesitantly took a seat far from the door of the limo. I didn’t know where we were going, or what I had gotten myself into, but I figured the further I was from the vampire, the safer I’d be. I heard my friends yelling at me from outside the limo, but I couldn’t endanger them. The vampires would kill them if I didn’t go with them. It seemed like there was no way this was real. Vampires couldn’t be real, but here I was, being abducted by them.

The driver opened the limo door again and the vampire slid in. He was all grace and feline fluidity. The driver closed the door behind him and walked around the limo to get in the front. I glanced at the vampire as he slid over and got comfortable. He looked triumphant, but there was something off about his expression, too. In a movement so fast that I couldn’t register it, he grabbed my arm and threw me to the floor of the limo. I fell hard, hastily reaching down to make sure my skirt hadn’t flown up.

“How dare you assume you are the equal of a vampire? You are just a slave. Get that through your thick head now. Keep your eyes down when you’re in the presence of my kind and never assume you can sit on equal level as a vampire,” he glared at me and I lowered my eyes, looking instead at his shined shoes. I fought not to cry. Tears wouldn’t help me. “We are going to Myst, one of the underground vampire cities. I am your master now. You will address me as such. I am Kieran, Master Kieran to you. Do you understand, slave?” he snarled at me. I nodded, trembling. “Answer me!” he growled.

“Yes,” I mumbled, staring at his shoes.

“Yes, master,” he corrected, slapping me across the face. The slap stung and tears came to my eyes.

“Yes, master,” I repeated obediently. I couldn’t believe what I had gotten myself into. He didn’t speak to me again for the rest of the trip. I couldn’t tell how long we were traveling, but it seemed like quite awhile. Well over an hour.Even through my fear, I found myself dozing off by the time we arrived at our destination. I was startled back from my doze by the limo pulling to a final stop and the side door opening.

“Welcome, Master Kieran,” the voice said from outside the limo.Kieran slid from the limo and nodded curtly at the person outside. He looked back to where I was.

“Come,” he bid me curtly. I slid carefully from the limo. I was terrified of what was going to happen now. I kept my eyes down when I stepped out. It was so hard, I wanted to see what was going on and where we were. “This is my new acquisition. See that she is properly attired and told the rules and have her taken to my chambers. I want her ready before Sanguis’ party this evening.” The young man bowed.

“Yes, master.” Kieran turned to me.

“You will do whatever they tell you and you will be ready before the party. ” He growled at me.

“Y-yes master,” I stuttered my reply out of nervousness and fear. I didn’t know what he was going to do to me. He hit me again, this time hitting me hard enough that I crumpled to the ground from the impact.

“You will learn your place,” he snarled as he strode off. I breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone.The young man offered me his hand. I reached up to take it and let him help me up. He was dressed nicely in dress pants and a button-up shirt. It didn’t hide the collar around his neck, though. He looked to be in his twenties.

“Come on, new girl. There’s not a lot of time before Master Sanguis’ party. ” He pulled me to my feet and began to lead me through the corridors of the building we were in. This place seemed like a castle, or mansion. The corridors were softly lit, and extremely confusing. I was lost immediately upon entering the building. He led me to a small chamber deep underground.There were others in the room with collars around their necks. “This is Kieran’s new pet. See to it that she’s properly clothed and sent to his chambers,” he bid the slaves inside and left us, closing the door firmly behind him.

A motherly woman came up to me. “Poor dear. It’ll be ok,” she told me as she led me further into the room. “It’s hard to adjust, I know, but you’ll be ok. ”She shook her head.“What’s your name, dear?”

“Adianna,” I told her softly. I was scared, but none of the women in this room seemed mean. They were curious, skinny, and pale, but seemed nice enough. 

“Someone get Rose to see what Kieran’s orders are,” the older woman bid the other women. A younger girl scampered off. “Have a seat, dear,” she told me and gently showed me where there were some cushions to sit on. I sat down carefully and waited. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew I needed to wait for Rose, whoever she was.

A couple of minutes later, the girl returned with a redheaded girl who looked only a few years older than me. “Rose, dear, did Master Kieran give you any instructions for his new acquisition?” Rose nodded and went to the closets at the back of the room. She pulled out a dress and handed it to the older woman. 

“Master Kieran wishes for her to wear one of these dresses, and to immediately see Barth once she is changed,” Rose told the older woman softly. “Please bring her upstairs to me after she has been to see Barth. I will make sure Master Kieran’s instructions are left with him before you take her there,” Rose left without even looking at me.

“There isn’t a lot of time,” she said in way of apology as she began to help me strip. “Also no room for embarrassment or modesty for a slave.” I tried to protest, but she and the other women wouldn’t let me. I tried to cover my nakedness with my hands, but in the next moment, they were pulling a dress over my head.The dress was a ballgown, something a princess would have worn. It was a bright blue. I tried to put my shoes back on, but the women wouldn’t let me. “Slaves do not wear shoes. ” They pulled my hair loose from its tie and let it flow in curls down my back before they finally deemed me ready. I figured that my dress was not flattering. I was overweight and the dress was way too extravagant.It was hard to walk in with its full skirt.I tried walking with tiny steps, lest I rip the dress or fall flat on my face. 

I was quickly ushered down the hall. It was difficult to keep up with my guide: a thin girl with a much shorter dress. She opened a door at the end of the hall and beckoned me inside. The man inside had no patience. He grabbed me around the waist as soon as I stepped inside. He lifted me bodily and set me down so I was sitting on a nearby table. I shrieked, but it did no good. The man was big and gruff. He looked like he should be part of a motorcycle gang.

The girl scampered out and closed the door behind her. “I am Barth. ” His voice was deep and gruff, but his eyes were kind. “You are Kieran’s. And new to this life.” He looked sad when I nodded my agreement to these comments.“It is a rough life, especially with that one.” He went to work at a nearby workstation. He was doing something with metal. I couldn’t tell what. “Do what the vampires tell you. Obey all orders. Do not look in their eyes. Follow the rules and you should be fine.” He spoke as if English wasn’t his first language. “I work for Sanguis, current King of the vampires. I was a blacksmith before I came here. One of Kieran’s slaves will explain his rules to you. One of the hardest parts of the transition is the trip to come see me. I apologize for it, but there’s no help for it either. It is the will of the vampires.” With no more warning than that, he came back to the table I was sitting on. I wondered what he meant for a brief moment, until I saw the ring of metal in his hands. Somehow, I knew exactly what it was for.

“No!” I pleaded. There was no escape. I couldn’t run, couldn’t hide. He looked so saddened by my reaction.

“Hold still, girl, it will be over in one moment,” he promised gently. I held still, tears in my eyes, as he fastened the ring of metal around my neck, carefully moving my hair out of the way. The collar was silver, cold, hard, unyielding, and heavy. As soon as he took his hands away, it landed heavily. It was so uncomfortable.I knew I would never forget that it was around my neck. It began chaffing almost at once. “There now, everything will be ok,” Barth said softly. “It could be worse,” he added. He showed me his left arm. There was a tattoo running down his arm reading ‘BARTH 117063 property of SANGUIS’. There was a brand on his face, too. He would never be able to fit in among humans with those marks. “Pray that Kieran does not like you enough to permanently mark you.”

He pulled on a nearby bell-pull.The girl from earlier reentered the room. I noticed that her collar was much thinner and looked almost like a necklace. Barth lifted me down from the table and set me gently on my feet. “Take her to Kieran’s rooms,” he told the girl. She bowed and led me quickly from the room. I scrambled to keep up with her. I felt so lost and confused. We made our way through the maze of corridors until we finally came to a set of double doors. She knocked. I stood terrified of what was waiting for me on the other side. A small, thin girl with red hair opened the door. She looked no older than ten and was wearing a forest green tunic and leggings.

“Is this Master Kieran’s new acquisition?” she asked. My guide nodded. The redhead smiled at me. “Come in,” she bid me and opened the door wider. I stepped inside, no less scared of what was going on. The girl shut the door behind me. “Rose! New girl!” she called further into the suite. I took a look around. We were in an entryway with hardwood floors. There was a pillow next to the door. I realized with horror that the girl had been chained to the wall next to the door. She couldn’t leave her post as doorman. “I’m Cherry,” she told me as she kneeled back on her pillow, taking up her post again.

“Adianna,” I replied. 

“Master Kieran will probably give you a new name. He gives all the girls new names,” she warned me. “Rose will give you the orientation, though.” I looked her over. Her collar looked just as heavy as mine. The chain coming from her collar to the door looked heavier than something she could even lift.

Finally, Rose came into the room. “I’m Rose,” she told me briskly. She glanced me over. “Come on,” she bid and led me further into the suite. “The slaves share the small bedroom,” she pointed at a closed door. “Master Kieran’s bedroom is there,” she pointed at another door. “We have a small kitchen and bathroom as well.” I followed her around the suite. She was taller than me, a few years older, with long red hair flowing down her back. She was dressed identically to Cherry. There were bells on her wrists and ankles. Her collar was thinner than mine, less heavy. Lucky her. “Master Kieran wishes for you to attend King Sanguis’ ball this evening. We must get you ready for it.” She led me into our bedroom and opened a chest inside the room. There were clothes and decorations in it. She pulled out a couple chains of bells. She wrapped them around each of my wrists. “It is traditional for pet slaves to wear bells,” she explained.She also pulled a tiara out from the chest and settled in on my head.“You are not to speak this evening. ” She continued as she pulled another item from the trunk. “You will not like me for this, but I swear it is for the best. You will not be whipped for speaking out of turn this way.” The item she showed me looked like a tube of chapstick. “Hold still,” she ordered as she opened it. I didn’t want to do what she said, but I knew from her tone that she really was trying to help me. I closed my eyes and let her apply the chapstick to my lips. I didn’t know what was in it, or how it worked, but the second it was applied, I could no longer open my mouth. I made a noise in my throat, protesting. “Shh, it will wear off in the morning,” she promised me.

The door to the suite opened again. “Where is the new girl?” Kieran’s voice demanded from the entry.

“She is with Rose, Master,” Cherry told him, loudly enough that we could hear her.

“Come on,” Rose hissed. We scampered from our bedroom. She went down on one knee, bowing her head. She pulled on my arm so I would follow suit. I fell ungracefully to my knees and bowed my head, not daring to look at the vampire as he entered the room. We were in a living area of his suites.

“Is she prepared for the party?” Kieran demanded from Rose.

“Yes, Master,” she replied, bowing her head even lower.

“You are dismissed, Rose. ” Rose got to her feet and backed out of the room. Kieran yanked me to my feet and looked me over. “Good, she sealed your lips. You will learn manners later. For now,” he looked down at me and grabbed me left hand. I couldn’t protest. His grip was so strong, I’d never be able to break it. He drew a symbol in purple magic on the back of my hand and arm. He then leaned down with his fangs extended and bit into my wrist. I screamed, but the sound was stuck in my throat. He turned my wrist over and bit into the other side, leaving teeth marks around my wrist. I screamed again and struggled, but it was no use. He slapped me across the face again. “Quiet.” He applied a bit of healing to the teeth marks. I didn’t understand it at the time. They stopped bleeding, ending up as shiny white scars. Before I could recover from the blow, he pulled my arms behind my back and fastened them there with something. He attached a thin chain to my collar. “Come, it is time for you to see the rest of my kind.” He tugged on the collar and I stumbled in my efforts to follow him from his suites.


	8. Now

It was noon before I woke again. Bree was licking my cheek to wake me from the nightmare. I was feeling much better physically, but emotionally, I was shaken up and raw from the memories. I petted Bree for a minute, taking comfort in her warmth and protection.

"We should go find Hunter and the others," I told her. She perked up and hopped off the bed, wagging her tail at the door. I smiled at her and climbed out of bed. "I should probably put my uniform back on," I reminded her. It didn't feel proper to go wandering in my pajamas. She huffed and flopped down impatiently in front of the door. I laughed and changed quickly to appease her. She bounced up once I was changed and began wagging her tail excitedly. I opened the door and she bounded out into the hall. I was careful to lock my door behind me.

"Do you know where they are?" I asked her. She cocked her head to the side for a moment before starting down the hall, clearly leading me. She led me back down to the main floor and growled at every male we passed until they stepped far enough away from me to appease her. I smiled, feeling safe with my werewolf bodyguard. Bree led me down to a study room on the first floor. Hunter, Carl, Michael, and Paige were all sitting around a table talking. They stopped and all looked up at me as I entered the room.

"Is everything ok?" Hunter asked, standing to come over to me if I needed him. I nodded, though, and his expression softened.

"Nothing more than a bad dream," I confessed. He looked worried at my words.

"A memory dream?" he asked, concerned. I nodded. He dropped the topic for the moment. I had a feeling he'd make me tell him later.

"Adi, what happened to you!?" Paige demanded, effectively changing the subject. I shrank back from her angry tone. Bree stepped in front of me and growled at Paige, her fur bristling.

"It's ok, Bree," I told the werewolf softly. She came back over to me and licked my hand. I hesitated at taking a seat at their table. It wasn't proper. Thankfully, Carl caught my emotions and bailed me out.

"You can sit by me," he offered, pulling out the chair next to him. I gave him a smile and nodded, silently thanking him for helping me with his empath powers. I took the seat he offered and Bree sat in front of me, laying her head in my lap.

"I told you, she doesn't remember," Hunter snarled at Paige. She glared right back at him. I moved my chair closer to Carl, away from the anger in the room.

"I'd like to hear it from her, thanks all the same," Paige snarled back at Hunter. She turned to me. "So... what happened?" Her voice was slightly less snarly when she addressed me.

"I don't remember much except the night I was taken," I told her. "What happened to you guys after that night?" I was too curious to watch my words, especially when I was safely guarded by two werewolves.

Instead of answering, Paige glared at Hunter. "Nice spellwork." Her voice was full of venom and sarcasm. "You're supposed to be a Senior Wizard,"

"I _am_ a Senior Wizard," Hunter replied with a growl. "And therefore outrank you,"

"Anyway," Michael interrupted their arguments. "After you were taken, Paige reported the incident to the authorities here at the school. They told me all about the vampires, shapeshifters, and mages. Paige already knew, of course. After that I started learning how to fight and we tried our best to find you." I knew it was a very simplified version that he told me, but I appreciated it anyway.

"I already knew about them," Paige continued "because I'm a mage. I was sent by the Arch Mages to protect you when Maester Wright hid you among the humans." She paused for a moment, appearing to gather her thoughts. "Maester Wright knew you'd be in danger after the fire, knew that people would be looking for you, but he wanted you to have as normal of a childhood as possible. He thought it was best that you didn't know. I wanted every day to tell you who you were and why you are so important to us all." She had tears in her eyes, trying not to cry and keep up her icy facade.

"What do you mean, who I am?" I asked her softly.

"That image of yourself you saw in the mirrors earlier wasn't a mirage," Carl told me softly, gently. "It's truly who you are,"

"We don't know everything," Hunter added, while my brain tried to wrap around what they were saying. "We know Kieran chose you for a reason, and we know you have a connection to all of the different shapeshifter tribes as well as the mages, vampires, and werewolves. We'll find out more later. For now, it's just important that you're safe." I nodded, thankful that he was saving me from more exposition that I didn't understand. At least I knew now that the feeling of reality from my shapeshifting dreams could very well be true.

"I'm so so sorry that I couldn't save you that night. It was my job to protect you, and I failed!" Paige sobbed, somehow closing the distance between us and pulling me into a hug. "I'm so sorry. It was my responsibility."

"There wasn't anything you could have done," I told her, uncomfortable at her hug, but I understood her need for physical reassurance. At least I remembered that night. There really wasn't anything Paige could have done. She was as helpless as Michael and I were. "We were 13. There wasn't anything any of us could have done against 5 vampires," I reminded her.

Hunter looked surprised. "Five of them were working together that night?" he asked. Michael, Paige and I all nodded.

"The other four worked for Kieran," I told Hunter. I didn't remember that for sure, but the information seemed true. He nodded.

"That makes sense, then." It seemed that it was strange for vampires to work together. I'd have to ask him for more information later. For now my brain was still reeling at the idea that the vision I had seen of myself wasn't false.

"So what happens now?" Michael asked, changing the subject yet again. I was grateful for the subject change and absentmindedly resumed petting Bree.

"Now, we need to focus on getting Adi ready to enter back into the real world while keeping her safe. We're going to get her caught up on academics so she can resume school in the fall, start training her to fight, and work on teaching her to control her powers," Hunter explained to all of us. It sounded like a good plan to me. "Unfortunately, Adi," he said as he turned his attention to me, "that means you're in for a rough afternoon of placement tests and your first lessons in fighting and magic. Are you up for it?" Hunter asked. I nodded.

"I want to get back to my life," I told him softly, taking strength from the werewolves surrounding me. Hunter gave me a real smile.

"Give me your number so we don't lose contact," Paige ordered me, pulling a phone from her pocket. Michael followed suite, looking at me expectantly.

"We haven't gotten her a cell phone yet," Hunter sighed, annoyed with my old friends.

"I'm not leaving her here with a bunch of boys and no way to contact her!" Paige growled at them. "I am not failing her again." Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose. Carl stepped up again to save the day.

"Here, you can have my number. I live across the hall from Adi and we'll let you know as soon as we get her a phone, ok?" Carl was so soothing and calming that even Paige relaxed and accepted his offer. Somehow, she trusted him over Hunter. I didn't understand why. Hunter was perfectly nice.

"Call me when it's time for her magic lesson. I'll come help," Paige told Carl. He nodded.

"Will do,"

Magic lessons can be a bit...intimate...since you often have to let someone else into your mind. It's a good idea to have Paige here to help. It might be easier for you,” Carl explained. I smiled up at him, glad that he thought of everything.

"Adi, I hate leaving you, but there's things we all need to do right now. Michael and I need to get back to class before we're missed, and you need to start rebuilding your life. We'll come back and help you after class. I promise," Paige told you.I nodded, accepting her words.

"I'll be fine," I promised her.

"She's going to be here taking placement tests until you get back. She'll be perfectly safe." Hunter grumbled at Paige.

"And I'll make sure of that for myself. It's my job to protect her. It always has been and it always will be."

"You've done a damn fine job of it the last four years, too," Hunter growled at her. His tone made the fur on Bree's neck stand up. "Stop blaming those of us who saved her for your mistake." He ordered her. I made a small noise and clutched onto Bree, my giant werewolf security blanket.

"I'm not leaving her here," Michael snarled, deciding to step in now. "We finally got her back. We can't just leave her with strangers."

"They aren't strangers," Paige replied calmly, taking in my expression. "They'll keep her safe until we can come back after classes. We will be back," she promised me as she grabbed Michael by the arm and dragged him bodily from the room. Once they were gone, I let out a sigh of relief and relaxed my grip on my security wolf.

"Sorry Bree," I mumbled, hoping I hadn't hurt her. She licked my hand in reply. I was forgiven. I gave her a small smile

"Are you up to getting started on the placement tests? We can postpone if you're not ready." Hunter tried to sound calm, but it was obvious he wanted me to agree. Thankfully that was something I could do and gave him a quick nod.

"Does Bree have to leave?" I asked them softly. Carl grinned and even Hunter cracked a smile.

"No, she can stay if she wants," Hunter promised. Bree nuzzled my leg. I petted her gently.

I spent the next few hours taking placement tests for various subjects, with Bree curled at my feet for morale support. Carl had to go back to classes. Hunter stayed in the room with me, making me feel safe during the string of teachers coming in to evaluate me. I had no idea how I was doing on the tests, but I somehow survived them.

While they were evaluating my assessments, Hunter led me to one of the gyms in the basement to begin fighting lessons. It was a grueling exercise and we barely working on any fighting. First, I had to strengthen my body again. We ran and jogged until I couldn't breathe. We did stretches and strengthening exercises. I was exhausted and drenched in sweat by the time he even got around to teaching the basics of how to defend myself.

At least I got to get a shower and fresh clothes before magic lessons. We went back to the gym for the magic lesson. Paige was there waiting. Michael was standing outside glaring. "I don't have magic, so they won't even let me inside," he explained to me as Bree growled at him for glaring in my vicinity. "Are you really ok, Adia?" he asked me softly, gently, in such a manner that I had to give him an honest answer.

"I don't know," I admitted to him, opening up some since we were such old friends. "I don't remember most of what happened, but I know it was bad." I told him softly. "It will be awhile putting my life back together." He smiled, but still looked sad.

He opened the door for me to the small gym. Hunter and Paige both looked up as Bree and I walked in. "Bree, you can stay, but you'll have to stay outside the circle." Hunter told the wolf. She bobbed her head and laid down in the corner where she'd be out of the way.

"Paige, you and Adi should take a seat and I'll make the circle." Hunter was careful not to make it an order, which I appreciated. Paige and I took seats on the floor. Once we were settled, Hunter walked around us, trailing a cord behind him, until there was a complete circle around the three of us. "The circle will keep our magic in and other magic out," Hunter explained. "It won't be necessary once you have control."

The lesson started first with meditation, emptying our minds. The next lessons were on grounding, centering, and shielding. It was exhausting pulling my magic back into order. It took until dinner before Hunter was satisfied with my progress. Paige and Michael stayed for dinner and spent the evening discussing school, classes, crushes, normal high school things. It felt almost like old times.

"Bree, don't you want to change back to human form?" I asked as dinner was ending. I hadn't seen her human form yet. She shook her head and whined.

"She hasn't shifted forms since her sister was taken 5, 6 years ago," Carl explained softly. “She couldn't shift in time to save her sister and hasn't shifted back since.”

"Her sister?" I asked, something about that statement tickled a memory, like I knew something about her sister, but I couldn't remember it yet. Carl nodded sadly and dinner ended on that sad note.

Hunter checked his watch. "There's still time before sundown if we want to head over to the admin building and get Adi her placement results and school supplies," he suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Paige seemed honest and earnest and genuinely excited about the prospect. "You'll get a laptop and phone at the admin building." She explained to me. I nodded. They really wanted to keep in touch with me.

"Why does it matter if the sun's up or not?" Michael demanded. "She shouldn't have a strickter curfew than the rest of the students," he grumbled.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Hunter snarled at him. "I rescued her from Kieran, the king of the vampires, and the most powerful vampire out there. There is no doubt that he wants her back. He can send every vampire in the world out to look for her. After dark, the tracking glyph he put on her will alert every vampire to her whereabouts, unless she's in one of the shielded buildings on campus." Michael stared in horror.

"You didn't kill the leech?" he demanded, shocked and horrified.

"No. All I could do that night was get Adi away from him." Michael was left speechless at that and Hunter took the opportunity to get everyone up and headed towards the admin building.

It was quite a caravan that went to the admin building. Hunter led us. Bree and Carl walked on either side of me and Michael and Paige followed behind. "We should get your placement results first," Hunter suggested. I nodded. He and Bree escorted me to the vice-principal's office and knocked on the door for me.

"Come in!" the woman inside bid. Hunter opened the door and the two of us walked inside.

"Ms. Thomas, this is Adianna Kincaid," Hunter introduced me, even though I was hiding shyly behind him.

"Welcome back, Ms. Kincaid. I know you've been out of school for awhile, out of the country. We've reviewed your placement test results. Mr. Blair has indicated that you will be tutored over the summer break. With that in mind, I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to join the Senior class next year." I grinned, the first true smile I think I had in years. Had I stayed in school, I would be a Senior next year. I'd be able to catch up and get my life started again.

"Thank you so much!" I told her with real excitement in my voice. "I promise to study hard over the summer to catch up," she smiled, nodded and dismissed us.

I grinned at Hunter once we were safely on the other side of the door. I bounced up on my toes, excited, and forgetting myself for a moment, and gave him a quick hug. He smiled, though, and didn't hurt me. "I get to go back to school!" I told him, more excitedly than any normal 17 year old girl. I bounced away from him, hoping he wouldn't be mad at my impromptu hug.

Instead, he chuckled. "Tuck in your ears, little wolf," he told me gently. I paused my celebration to look at him confused. He smiled and gestured to the display-case next to us. I looked in and could see my reflection. I had wolf-ears on top of my head. I made a small noise and clapped my hands over them in surprise. Hunter chuckled again. "It's ok," he insisted calmly. "Just breathe and relax, like we did earlier in meditation." I nodded, closed my eyes, and did as I was bid, clearing my mind and calming my emotions until I could focus on pulling my magic back into myself. "Very good!" I opened my eyes and saw that I was back to normal. "I think that'll be the next magic lesson," Hunter said dryly. "How to control your shapeshifting. I nodded. That seemed like a good idea.

We headed back downstairs and collected my phone, laptop, and textbooks, so I would be able to study over the summer. Hunter had to pry the books away from me to keep me from getting started right that moment. "Let's get you back to the dorm before the sun goes down," he suggested with a warm smile. I nodded and we met back up with our friends. Hunter growled at the sky. "Damn, we spent too much time here. Let's get you home." I nodded, displeased that the sun was starting to go down. The glyph on the back of my hand began to glow purple. "Double damn," Hunter cursed at it. "We'll have to figure out a way to break that spell soon." We met back up with everyone else.

"Took you long enough," Carl grumbled, looking up at the setting sun. Hunter was too busy barking out orders. He took all of my new things and gave them to Michael to carry.

"Paige, you and Bree stick to Adi. If anything happens, run." He ordered. They nodded and moved closer to me. "Let's go," I was surprised that Michael didn't argue with Hunter, but our caravan moved much more quickly back to the dorms.

Thankfully, we didn't run into any vampires on the way back. However, there were three unicorns waiting outside the dorm for us.


	9. Then

I wasn't dreaming. I wasn't even asleep, but still I remembered. Seeing the unicorns had jarred the next piece of my memory.

It was the same evening from my last dream. Kieran pulled me stumbling from his suite and down the halls of the castle. I spent the walk trying not to fall while keeping up with Kieran's longer stride. I didn't think he'd stop, or help me, if I fell.

Before I knew it, we were entering a grand ballroom. It was filled with dancing forms and slaves wandering through the crowd with trays holding champagne glasses which were filled with a dark red drink that I hoped was wine, yet I knew it wasn't.

Heads turned and the crowd parted as we made our way through the ballroom. A hush fell over the crowd as they all watched our procession. Kieran dragged me forward and threw me onto the steps leading up to the stage where a vampire sat watching, guards standing around him. He seemed important, but I didn't know why and I was busy trying to sit back up after being thrown basically at his feet.

"Interim King, I present to you proof that I am the rightful King of the Vampires," Kieran told the vampire in the throne up on the stage. I looked up at the vampire on the stage. He seemed older than Kieran, but didn't look a day over 30. He had the characteristic pale skin and dark eyes. He looked at me coldly and I felt myself recoil from him.

"You think this creature is proof?" He scoffed. Kieran snarled.

"It is proof. It is the child of Adelina and Lazarus and it is in my service," he growled at the other vampire. I should've been offended at being called an 'it' but I was too busy putting the pieces together. The vampire who had talked to me at school had mentioned those names as well and tried to convince me that I was their child. It couldn't be true.

"You know I will need more than your word as proof," the vampire in the throne said dryly, sounding bored.

"Then test the creature and hand over my rightful throne!" Kieran snarled, throwing the chain attached to my collar up to the vampire on the throne. The vampire on the throne shrugged, then sent a bolt of what felt like pure power at me. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't even raise my hands to try to protect myself, or ward it off. I flinched and ducked my head away, trying to escape, but it was no use. I shrieked as the power flooded through me, scalding every cell of my body as it did, but my lips were still sealed together and the sound wouldn't come out properly. The pain felt like it lasted eternity. I was left panting when the pain finally subsided. Everything seemed strange, though, the sounds of the room were louder, and I felt strangely unbalanced, like there was something on my back, something heavy on my forehead.

I heard gasps from the crowd and saw my reflection in a nearby mirror. I was hideous, in the mixed form I recognized from the present time, though I didn't understand at the time why there was a horn coming out of my forehead, full wings on my back, and cat-ears on my head. I was exhausted and on the verge of passing out, not understanding what was going on.

The vampire on the throne bowed his head. "I accept your proof." He said magnanimously. He then raised his voice to the rest of the crowd. "I, Sanguis, Interim King, do hereby acknowledge Kieran's claim to the throne. The official coronation will be tomorrow night. For tonight, enjoy the ball and congratulate Kieran on finding the proof he needed." Kieran finally appeared pleased at these words and took my chain back from Sanguis. He passed it to a male slave.

"Take this back to my suite," he ordered the slave. The man bowed deeply to Kieran and swept me up into his arms as though I weighed nothing. I knew that wasn't true. I squirmed a little, uncomfortable at being picked up by a stranger, but too exhausted to truly fight him.

"Shh," the man whispered as he carried me from the room. "The sooner we get you away from the vampires the better." He carried me swiftly from the room, then set me on my feet once we were far enough away from the vampires. I wobbled, unsteady and exhausted. He freed my wrists, giving me my hands back and removed the chain from my collar. "I'm not going to hurt you," he promised. He went down on one knee in front of me. "I am sorry that we could not keep you from him, though," For a moment I saw a flash of wolf ears and smelled the forest. It was calming and I felt myself relax. "Come, princess, let's get you back to the suite where you can rest," he bid as he stood and offered me his arm. I took it gratefully, letting him help me back through the maze of corridors to Sanguis' suites. After only a couple of turns, exhaustion rushed back through me and I leaned against him. He swept me back up into his arms. "That was quite a bit of magic for you to use all at once," he told me gently. "And I'm sure it was the first time you had used it in many years, or you would not have been able to hide from the vampires for so long. You're going to be one very tired little princess tonight," I let him carry me without protest. I was too exhausted to walk by myself. I was dozing off in his arms when he stopped and knocked on the door. Cherry opened the door for him.

"Hello!" she greeted us. "Ooh, unicorn!"

"Sanguis wishes for her to rest in his suite," my escort told Cherry.

"She can rest in here," Rose said from the slaves' bedroom. She rushed forward to meet us. My escort set me back on my feet. "What happened to her?" Rose asked him.

"Master Sanguis encouraged her to shift into this form," the man explained. Rose nodded.

"I'm sure it was gentle encouragement..." Rose replied sourly. "We will take care of her. Thank you for escorting her home." she wrapped an arm around me and led me to the bedroom. I was barely on my feet, but managed to go with her as Cherry escorted the man back out of Kieran's suites. "C'mon," she bid me, supporting me. She helped me back out of the ballgown and into the simple clothes of the slaves, the tunic and leggings. Somehow the outfit accommodated my wings and tail. I was too tired to question it. Rose led me to one of the pallets on the floor. "Rest for awhile. You need it. We'll talk once the sealing wears off of your lips," she told me. I collapsed into the pallet, falling asleep almost instantly.


	10. Now

The three unicorns caught sight of me, lowered their heads, and charged.Paige and Bree tried to pull me away, but they had moved too late.Two of the unicorns knocked them aside, then started circling around me, keeping my friends at bay with their deadly looking horns.

The third unicorn, a stallion, shifted forms.He looked around 20 with long white-blond hair flowing down his back and the white unicorn horn on his forehead, still deadly looking, even in human form."Sister, we have been searching for you.Thank Haven you're safe.Forgive my forwardness, but it is not safe here for you." Before I could protest, he swept me up and planted me carefully on the back of one of the other unicorns.I yelped and tried to hop back down before the unicorn could take off.

"Friends, please wait.There has been a misunderstanding." Hunter told them, his palms held out to them to show he was unarmed."Friend Adianna is living with us of her own free will.We saved her from the Not-Friend who kept her away all these years." The unicorns paused and listened to him.I didn't understand why he was speaking that way, but it had an effect on the unicorns.

"You are a Friend of the People?" the stallion asked Hunter warily.Hunter nodded.

"Friend Aurora has welcomed me as Friend of the People," he replied formally.The stallion nodded and relaxed his stance.

"Sister Aurora is wise in her choosing of Friends," he agreed, sounding like he wouldn’t protest with whatever this Aurora had chosen to do.

"Friends, may I suggest we go inside the residence where Friend Adianna will be safer?" Hunter asked them.The stallion nodded again.

"Your suggest is acceptable, Friend," he reached up and plucked me from the mare's back and set me gently on my feet.The other two unicorns shifted back to their almost-human forms.One was 20-ish.The other was a 13 year old alicorn.They were not giving up their horns without more assurance that everything was ok.The three unicorns remained around me, which was upsetting the rest of my friends.

"This way, Friends," Hunter gestured the unicorns toward the dorm.He led the way and the unicorns and I followed while the rest of our friends held back, seemingly at some silent command from Hunter.Before we made it to the door, there was a growl from behind us.

"Hand over the vampire property,” a male voice growled from behind us.I turned and saw a pack of vampires.Hunter pushed me into the alicorn's arms.

"Get our Friend inside," he told her as he rushed back down the stairs to face the vampires."We can't let them get away!They'll tell the vampire where she is!" I heard Hunter yell to the others.The alicorn spread her wings, blocking the vampires from being able to see me.I tried to stop her from ushering me inside, but she was very strong and very insistent.At least she didn't try to stop me from watching the fight through the window.

/Adi, sound the alarm.Big red button right inside the door.We need backup/ I heard Hunter's voice in my mind.I obeyed the order before the words and command had even sunk in, smashing the big red button next to the door.An alarm started blaring throughout the dorm. I jumped at the sudden noise.I swung towards the hall when the hoard of boys in the dorm came running in their combat boots toward the door where we were standing.I backed out of the way as they went barreling past us.The alicorn backed up with me.She seemed as disturbed by the number of boys passing us as I was.All of them were armed as they ran through the open door. 

I peeked back out through the window to watch as the boys surrounded the vampires.The vampires had been doomed the moment I had hit the red button. It was only a minute before the vampires had turned to dust.The boys came rowdily back inside, congratulating each other loudly as they went back to their studies, or whatever they had been doing before I hit the alarm. At the end of the herd were a group of older boys dragging a struggling vampire into the dorm. The vampire was bound and gagged, but still putting up an incredible fight.

I couldn’t help shrieking at the closeness of the vampire and backing away from the aura it was putting off. My friends rushed into the room behind the herd of boys and Carl rushed to my side. He wrapped me in his arms, surrounding me with the scent and aura of pack. “Shh, it’s ok. It can’t hurt you. They’re just taking it downstairs for questioning. After they’re done questioning it, it will be destroyed. There’s no way it can hurt you,” he promised. The boys had dragged the vampire away quickly, hauling it downstairs as fast as they could at Hunter’s insistence and my own shrieks. Hunter herded us all into the conference room we had been using earlier that day. Our group was getting quite large, but we still all managed to fit.

I stayed curled between my werewolf protectors until I could finally shake the vampire’s aura.The others were catching the unicorns up on recent events.Hunter and the unicorns were discussing where the unicorns would stay, as they weren’t going to leave me, now that they had finally found me.

I knew what I needed to do, though.I needed to face my fear.I was never going to get over my fear, or get stronger, until I faced a vampire. 

The group finally agreed that Larissa, the alicorn, would stay here with me while the other two would stay in a house nearby.A memory flashed of a unicorn I had met many, many years ago.“Larissa?” I asked softly, before remembering the proper manners of the Unicorn Kingdom.“It is my recollection that I met a unicorn named Larissa when I was a child.She had allowed me the great honor of addressing her as ‘Sister’.Could it be that I am addressing the same unicorn now?” Carl and Hunter both gaped at me.They hadn’t heard me speak so many words at once.They probably also didn’t know how I knew Unicorn Protocol.I wasn’t entirely sure myself.

The alicorn turned to me and grinned, though she sobered under the watchful eye of her elders.“Your recollection is correct, Sister Adianna.We met many moons ago, before my wings grew in and I became Princess of the People.You were named then as a Sister of the People, and our Sister you remain,” she told me.She sounded older than she looked. 

“Excuse the interruption, Friends, but what do you mean that she is a Sister of the Unicorns?” Hunter asked formally.The rest of the group seemed hesitant to speak in front of the unicorns, as the unicorns spoke so strangely.And no one wanted to offend them.

“Sister Adianna is Sister to the Unicorns.In the same way she is Sister to the werewolves, felis, and avians,” one of the older unicorns explained.Larissa stood and came over to me. 

“Will you allow me to show them, Sister?” she asked me.The others looked as confused as I felt.I nodded, though, hoping that when she showed them, I might understand as well.She touched my forehead with a finger and her unicorn horn started to glow.I felt her magic flow through me, just as the healer’s had earlier.More of my aches and wounds disappeared under the influence of her magic.I felt the magic surrounding me and felt the sun on my skin, grass under my hooves, and the feeling of warm, safe, magic all around me.I hear gasps around me and opened my eyes.I could see my reflection in the glass across the room.There was a unicorn horn protruding from my forehead.“Adianna is Sister of the People,” Larissa proclaimed.“She is one of us.”

Hunter made a gesture to cut her off.“We know who she is, Friends.However, this may be too much for her after all she has been through.I suggest we move on to other topics.I would appreciate any advice you may have for removing the tracking glyph from Friend Adianna’s hand,” he addressed all of the unicorns, forcing a change of conversation.

I needed to find my courage and tell them what I needed.I needed to face my fear, and I needed to do it quickly before the creature I was afraid of was destroyed.I curled my fingers in Bree’s fur, borrowing her strength and courage.I cleared my throat, and hesitated when all the eyes in the room turned to me.A lick from Bree gave me the courage I needed to continue.“I wish to see the... vampire being questioned,” I told them as firmly as I could make my voice.It was terrifying to speak up after what I had been through, but I knew it was the right thing to do and I understood that this group wanted to help me recover and heal and they wouldn’t hurt me.

“Adi, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Paige asked, too gently, too coddling.She didn’t think I was healed enough for this.I knew she was right, but I also knew this was the best chance I would have to face a vampire and face my fears.

“I’m going to have to face one sometime,” I told her, trying to find the right words to convince them.“It is much safer to do so now, even though I am not ready, while the vampire is secured and we are in a building full of vampire hunters,”

“She has a point,” Hunter said, cutting off Paige’s objection.“She’s perfectly safe with us.”

“Hunter you can’t! She’s not ready!” Paige protested.Hunter glared at her. 

“I take responsibility for this decision.” He told her firmly.“She is under our jurisdiction, not yours Junior Mage.” Paige turned a deep red, her expression a mix of rage and embarrassment.I realized that Hunter had just pulled rank on her.She sat back down and sulked.It seemed she couldn’t argue with him anymore.He turned to me instead, his expression back to his usual gentle caring one.“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked me.I gathered my courage to nod at him. He nodded and stood.“Carl, Bree, come with us.Friend Larissa, I invite you to join us as well,” he added formally to the alicorn.She nodded and stood.“Junior Mage, you stay here with the others,” he ordered Paige.She sulked, but nodded.

“Yes, sir,” she answered, spitting the words through clenched teeth.Her tone made me ache, painful memories flashing through me as she spat the words at him. 

Hunter led the way and our group headed down at least a few levels of basement. Bree and Larissa stayed close to me and Carl guarded our backs.Not that we needed him to guard us, but it made me feel safer knowing that he was doing so.Finally, we came to a room at the end of a dungeon hallway.There were guards stationed outside, but they let us pass when they saw Hunter.

Inside the room the vampire was chained to a sturdy metal chair in the middle of the room.I couldn’t help my reaction, cringing away from Him.No. IT. I corrected myself. Not ‘him’ and definitely not ‘Him’.They don’t own you anymore.I forced myself to take one step forward, then another.Hunter stayed at my side, never pushing, never pressing me to go faster than I was comfortable with.He was there for my support and I appreciated his calm and stability.Our friends waited, watching silently.I finally noticed that there were two other boys in the room, watching us.

“Have you finished questioning it?” Hunter asked them.He didn’t bother telling them why we were here. I figured that he outranked them and therefore he didn’t need to explain himself. 

“Yes, sir.We were preparing to destroy it.” One of the boys answered formally. Hunter nodded. 

“Is there anything we need to know immediately from it?” he asked.They shook their heads.He nodded again.“I will take charge of destroying it.Go write your report for Maester Wright,” he told them.They bowed and left the room to do as they were told.Hunter turned to me.“It can’t hurt you,” he reminded me gently, urging me to take another step towards the bound creature as it hissed and snarled at us.I hesitated, cringing at the angry sounds coming from the creature.We were just out of reach of it now.It snarled again as it looked me over, scrutinizing me.

“You’re Kieran’s _pet_ ,” he emphasized the last word and I winced.I had a feeling He had seen me before.It took all of my willpower not to kneel in front of Him, not to bow down before Him.He was a Vampire, after all.“You’re a long way from home, playing dress-up as a real person.Your Master is not going to be pleased with you at all.Is he, princess?” I felt tears of fear, frustration, and anger come to my eyes as his words tore through me.He saw my expression, saw my tears and changed tactics.“Why don’t you let me go and I’ll take you back home.Your Master will be so glad to see you home safely, I’m sure he won’t be angry with you.It’s not your fault at all that you ended up so very far from home...”I felt the magic then, felt the compulsion in his words.He was trying to manipulate me into helping him. 

Hunter broke the spell by placing something into my hand.I looked down and saw a wooden stake.“You’re free now,” Hunter reminded me.“You don’t have to listen to them anymore,” he told me gently.

“Let me go, bitch!” the vampire yelled, snarling again.I kept my attention on Hunter.

“Destroy it,” Hunter insisted. “Face your fear and destroy it.You’re free now and you’re stronger than it.”

“Your master will kill you for this!” the vampire continued shrieking.

“H-how?” I asked Hunter softly, terrified, but certain that he was right.He smiled at me and pointed to a spot on the vampire’s chest. 

“Stake through the heart, put your body weight behind the blow,” he explained gently, carefully.I tried to concentrate on his words, on what he told me, but the vampire was yelling and screaming at me, and it was so hard to think past me fear.

“SHUT UP!” I shrieked at the vampire, something in me snapping from years of built up fury.Amazingly, it did.Hunter was startled and looking at me shocked.The vampire’s mouth kept moving, but no sound came out. 

I don’t know how.I don’t remember doing it, but the next thing I knew, my arm was flying towards the vampire with the stake held firmly in my grip.I threw my entire body behind the blow and the stake met its mark, driving into the vampire’s chest.The vampire made no sound as it burst into dust, its body completely disintegrating.I stumbled forward and Hunter had to catch me, so I didn’t fall into the now-empty metal chair.I dropped the stake, horrified by what I had done.I turned to Hunter and let him wrap me in his arms so I could cry into his chest, so overwhelmed by what I had done.


	11. Then

The shock of what I had just done threw me back into memories.It was an act so against my slave training that I was thrown back into the memories of that training.

I remembered pain, beatings, hunger, humiliation.

The memories swirled around me until they landed where they had left off.

I woke to Rose shaking me awake.I moaned softly, still exhausted.I tried to roll over and go back to sleep, not remembering or believing what had happened to me.Surely, it couldn’t be time for my alarm to go off.“Ware up!” Rose hissed at me.Memories of the previous night came flooding back.It wasn’t all some horrible nightmare.I shot up, not quite believing that it was true until I saw Rose for myself.“We don’t have a lot of time before Master Kieran returns.I need you to tell me what happened out there.”I somehow got my brain focused enough to tell her what had happened.“You’re the one he was looking for all these years.” I didn’t understand why he had been looking for me.I was just a teenage girl.Rose shook her head.“I’ll tell you the whole story when we have more time.” She stood and beckoned me to follow.I scrambled to my feet.At least I didn’t feel unbalanced anymore.I realized that all of the strange non-human features had vanished, as if they had never existed. “So Master Kieran will be king now.His coronation will be soon.I have a feeling you’re going to be in the spotlight.You seem intelligent enough.If you’d like to avoid being bound, thrown in a cell, and beaten until you’re broken, convince the vampires, Master Kieran especially, that you’re smart enough to be obedient.It won’t help completely, but it’ll save you some beatings if you just do as you’re told and keep your eyes down.Master Kieran is your life now.He and his wishes are the only thing that matters.Slaves don’t think.They obey.” I understood her words, but I didn’t comprehend them.I was a person, not a pet...or a thing.“If you need to address any of them, they are ‘milord’ or ‘milady’.Only speak when spoke to.” 

How naive I was back then to think that Rose’s advice would actually help me.She was right that Kieran had been looking for me.I was going to get much more attention than I wanted from the vampires.The first example came with a knock at the door.Cherry opened it cheerfully and Rose and I peeked out from our room to see who was there.Sanguis, the former king of the vampires, was standing on the other side of the door.

“Stand aside, girl, and let me in,” he demanded from Cherry.Her smile faltered a little.

“Master Kieran is not here at the moment,” she hedged.Rose rushed to her rescue. She bowed to Sanguis and nudged Cherry to the side, out of his way and away from his notice. 

“Apologies, King Sanguis. Little Cherry is new and not properly trained yet.Of course you may enter.” She swept to the side, shoving Cherry behind her and into the safety of the space behind the door where Sanguis couldn’t see her. Cherry was smart enough to stay silent.

“See that she is properly taught,” Sanguis snarled at Rose.

“Yes, milord,” she replied, not raising her eyes or rising from her bow as he walked past her, into the suite. 

“Where is Kieran’s new acquisition?” he demanded, not turning to look at either girl.Rose motioned for me to come out of the room.I hesitated a moment before I did as she bid.She motioned me forward and kept motioning until I was close enough, then held up a hand to stop me.She bowed and I copied her, hoping this vampire wasn’t about to hurt me.“So you’re Kieran’s new pet.” He crooned at me.It didn’t sound like an actual question, so I kept quiet and didn’t rise from the bow, even though it was beginning to hurt.“Look at me,” he ordered.I rose from my bow and looked up at him, terrified of what would happen next. He was the king of the vampires, after all.He grabbed me under the chin and lifted my face, forcing me up on my toes to look at him.“Yes, I see Adalia in you.I don’t know where they hid you all of these years, but it’s unfortunate for you that you were found,” he told me, staring into my eyes. I couldn’t look away from him, even as I struggled to remain standing on my toes, so it wasn’t just his grip holding me up. 

I heard a snarl come from the door.Suddenly, I was ripped from Sanguis’ grip and thrown into the wall across the room. “Do not touch my property,” the voice snarled again.I looked up, dazed and dizzy from the hard blow.Kieran was now between Sanguis and me.Rose and Cherry were kneeling by the door, Cherry’s head was touching the floor she was bowing so low.Rose motioned for me to stay where I was and held a finger up to her lips.I nodded and she lowered her own head to the floor. 

“I am still king here and have the right to inspect all property,” Sanguis replied cooly.Kieran snarled again.

“I am your king now,” he insisted.I stayed where I was, not daring to move, barely daring to breathe.Sanguis appeared calm and collected, though.

“Not until your coronation,” he reminded Kieran.“However, I have inspected the girl to my satisfaction and will leave her in your care.”With that, Sanguis turned and left the suite.Kieran whirled and snarled at Cherry.

“Why did you let him in?” he demanded.“I instructed you not to let anyone in!”

“I-I’m sorry, I failed you, Master,” she whimpered, sounding like she was going to cry.He stomped over and kicked at her.Rose moved in the way and took the blow instead.

“Apologies, Master. It is my fault.I overruled Cherry and let the former king in,” Kieran snarled at her.

“15 lashes for you, 5 for Cherry for her first offense.” He ordered. They both nodded and somehow bowed lower.“They will be administered back at the manor.We are leaving the castle until after the coronation, effective immediately. Rose, see to the arrangements.I expect you to leave here within the hour.I’m taking the new girl with me now.”He stomped over to where I was still crumpled against the wall.I hadn’t dared to move from where he threw me earlier.I cringed away from him, but he lifted me by the collar around my neck.“You’re coming with me now, and you’re doing so quietly,” he snarled at me.He held me off the floor by my collar with one hand effortlessly and reached up to my face with the other. I didn’t know what he was going to do, but I knew it would be bad.He touched my temple, then before I could even react, moved his fist back and hit my temple hard.It was hard for a human anyway, it was probably no more than a tap for him.The world turned black almost immediately.I felt him throw me over his shoulder as I lost consciousness entirely.


	12. Now

“Give her a minute,” I heard Hunter’s exasperated voice.I hadn’t quite shaken off the memory trance.“It always takes her a minute to come back to us once she gets a piece of memory back,”

“This is dangerous!We can’t just leave her like this!” It was Michael who was protesting.I opened my eyes to see Michael standing in front of me, his arm raised as if to slap me across the face.

“NO!” Hunter yelled, but it was too late.I shrieked, bringing my arms up in front of my face instinctually as I flinched away from the blow.I felt the energy flow through me as the bubble of safety came up around me.It threw Michael away from me.He landed hard against the wall.The light purple glow of the energy surrounding me was comforting, though it still took a minute before I relaxed enough to be able to lower my arms and stop expecting a blow.

The scene in front of me had changed dramatically in the last 30 seconds.Larissa and Bree were standing right on the other side of my bubble of protection.Bree was growling and Larissa was in an obvious fighting stance.They were there to protect me.Hunter was storming up to Michael.Carl waited on the sidelines, assessing where he would be needed.

“You moron!” Hunter shouted at Michael. I cringed back away from his angry tone, but at the same time, I recognized that he was protecting me.I felt so much safer with that knowledge.

“You know she was abused, beaten, tortured, and worse, by one of the most evil, vile vampires in existence.How dare you raise a hand to her!” Hunter snarled.His rage was like a living thing, growing and taking up more space in the room.It was a protective rage though, and after the first instinct of fear I had felt, I knew that I was perfectly safe.His rage wasn’t directed at me, it was directed at protecting me.

“I wasn’t going to hit her!” Michael protested.His words seemed to enrage Hunter all the more.Hunter snarled and I saw fur rise on the back of his neck and wolf ears appear on his head.I realized two things in that instant: Hunter was a werewolf and he had lost control of his wolf.An out of control wolf could kill so easily.A memory of a girl dead at the hands of an out of control werewolf.

My bubble of safety popped and I moved without thinking.Carl couldn’t move, his wolf wasn’t willing to stand against a more dominant wolf.Bree was stuck in the same situation.Larissa’s only concern was my protection.I gleaned the thought from her as I ran past them.I threw myself between Hunter and Michael.I gathered my courage and looked into Hunter’s eyes.They were wolf amber now.His snarl softened when he saw me.That was a good sign.

From somewhere within myself, I didn’t understand where or how, I found the part of myself that was wolf, was pack.I pulled it purposely from deep within myself and to the surface.It was the first time I could remember purposely calling forth this power.Somehow it worked.I felt my wolf ears emerge and the scent and feel of pack surrounded us.

Hunter finally seemed to recognize who I was.I could see his emotions shift as his attention shifted to me.He pulled me to him, still half-crazed.I let him, knowing the overprotective nature of werewolves.I was using it to my advantage to save Michael’s life.I don’t know how I knew how to handle an out of control werewolf, but somehow I did.I let Hunter hug me tight and safe.He wrapped his protection around us both.He smelled my hair and I felt him relax.It would have been weird if he hadn’t been a werewolf.

Hunter was calmer now, but his wolf was still out of control.He was still focused on Michael.I needed to shift his focus before he did something stupid, like kill Michael. Luckily, I knew how to do that.“Hunter, I’m scared.Will you help me?” The last four words were like magic against the werewolves.I felt his focus completely break away from Michael.“Will you help me out of here?” I asked, keeping a hint of fear, pain, and hurt in my voice.I was doing anything I could to keep his attention on me, and not on killing Michael.I didn’t want anymore killing if it could be avoided.

Hunter kept me wrapped safely in his arms and kept his body between me and Michael as he got us out of the room.He didn’t think that was enough, though.Really, I expected no less from a werewolf in protection mode.He kept an arm wrapped firmly around me as he led me quickly through the hall.He was acting almost like he was secret service leading the president to safety. 

I made a feeble protest that I was fine and didn’t need help anymore.It was just token resistance.The werewolves expected it.He would listen if I meant it, but it was part of the ritual.If I didn’t tell him I was ok and didn’t need his help anymore, he would worry more about me.

Soon, we were standing outside my door.He unlocked my room and pushed me inside to safety.“Invite me in,” he ordered.I hesitated.The protections on this room were set for just this reason.It was what made it safe to live here, surrounded by men.Hunter saw my hesitation.“I know I’m asking a lot.Please let me help you, let me keep you safe,” he insisted.I saw through his words to what he was really asking.If he didn’t find an excuse to stay with me, he would go find Michael.He was still too far out of control to be allowed to take that course of action.I nodded and stepped back.

“Come in,” I bid him.The look of relief in his eyes broke my heart.He stepped into my room.I could tell how hard it was for him to leave the door open.He was leaving me an escape and giving me the cue that he wasn’t going to hurt me at the same time.He wasn’t going to try anything with the door open where anyone could see.

I finally relaxed a bit, now that we were safely away from Michael.I felt myself shaking and I knew that shock was setting in.“You’re shaking,” Hunter’s voice was full of concern.He pulled a throw blanket off of my bed and wrapped it around me.I let him, knowing that letting him take care of me would help control his wolf.I let him tuck me into my bed and wrap more blankets around me.He pulled my desk chair over next to my bed.“Are you ok?”

“Getting there,” I told him. “I can’t believe I did that.” He nodded and smiled reassuringly.

“The first one is always the hardest,” he agreed.“I remember mine.It was five years ago, right after Kieran took my sister.”

“You’re sister was taken?” I blurted out.I still flinched, my body expecting to be hit even though my brain knew better.

Hunter nodded, looking sad.His eyes looked haunted.He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, from which he retrieved a picture.He handed it to me.There were two figures in the image; one was a younger Hunter in his school uniform.The other was a thin girl with flaming red hair, standing next to him in her school uniform.“That was our first day of school here.She was taken the next week.” I studied the picture more closely, focusing on the girl.She looked so familiar. 

It finally clicked.“Rose!” I exclaimed, finally placing her.Hunter perked up, looking at me with a mix of shock and hope. 

“You know her? You saw her?Her name is Lily,” I looked at the picture again to be sure, then nodded firmly.

“I know her as Rose.Master Kieran has a habit of renaming all of his...slaves,” Hunter took my hand, giving me physical comfort.It hurt to talk about Kieran, but I needed to tell Hunter what I knew.

“He’s not your master,” Hunter told me softly, gently.“No one is.”I nodded.Some habits were just so hard to break, especially a habit that had been beaten into me like that one had been.Hunter waited a moment before continuing.“Lily...is she...alive?” he asked, like he was scared to hear the answer.I looked down.

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember.”I told him, tears in my eyes.I caught him up on everything I had remembered so far.I told him as much as I could about his sister, but I hadn’t remembered much about her yet.

“Don’t be sorry.It’s my fault you don’t remember more,” he reminded me gently.He looked up at me a little more brightly.“I have an idea, but you’d have to trust me.”I nodded and gave him a small smile, wiping the tears away from my eyes.I realized that I really did trust him.He moved over and sat on the bed in front of me.“I would like to take a look at your memories,”

I nodded, not even scared.“You want to see Rose,” I surmised.He smiled.

“I’d like to see everything, like to know what you’ve been through, but yes, I’d also like to see Lily.”I nodded again and sat up, dropping the blankets he had insisted I needed only a short time earlier.I crossed my legs, mirroring his pose.“I’ll need physical contact,” he said hesitantly.I bit back my fear.I trusted him.He wouldn’t hurt me.He reached up and touched my temples, carefully, gently, with the first two fingers of each hand.He spoke while he was moving, trying not to startle me.“After the first time doing this, as much physical contact won’t be needed if we ever want to do it again.It will also make telepathy easier.Close your eyes and try to relax.” I did as he bid, focusing on my breathing, focusing on meditation, pulling my magic in.I felt Hunter’s mind at the edge of mine.He waited patiently until I let him.I remembered how, and opened my mind to him.

/I’m not going to make you relive any of those memories/ He promised me.I felt him create a barrier so he could see what he wanted without my conscious mind needing to relive it.I saw glimpses as my memories flooded into him, but they were just glimpses and none of the emotions that went with them seeped through Hunter’s barrier.The barrier collapsed once he was done with it.He didn’t immediately leave my mind.I could feel his hesitation.I could feel him gather himself for what he wanted to say. /I can break the shielding on more of your memory/ he started.I wanted to remember and sent that emotion to him through the bond in our minds./From what I’ve seen, the next piece of your memories is not going to be...pleasant.It’s going to hurt.I can’t fix that, but I can stay with you so you don’t have to face the memories alone, if you’d like/ He tacked on the last piece quickly, nervously, as if he were overstepping his bounds.I let him feel the rush of relief that I felt.It was the sweetest thing I think I had ever experienced.

/You’ll stay with me?/ I felt his joy that I had asked.I felt his reassurance and strength.I felt something else, something warm and full of caring, but I couldn’t put a name on the emotion.

/I’ll stay/ he confirmed./For as long as you want me/ I felt that strange emotion coming from him again.It felt like a hug, like warmth and safety.It felt of joy, of the sun, life, spring, a smile.It felt like the most comfortable old sweatshirt I’d ever worn.It felt of being excited, elated, anxious, nervous, scared all at the same time.

I felt Hunter clamp down on his emotion with a feeling of embarrassment./Are you ready?/

/As ready as I can be/I didn’t feel ready, but I felt better knowing he was going to face it with me.

/Then let’s get to work-/


	13. Then

I felt Hunter wrap his strength around me.My mental vision changed until Hunter and I were standing in a long hallway.There were a bunch of open doors at our backs across the hallway and a locked door in front of us.

Hunter gestured to the doors behind us.“Those symbolize the memories you’ve gotten back so far,” he explained.With a sheepish grin, he added: “Sorry, I like visual representations...” I returned his smile.He pointed at the locked door in front of us.“The next set of memories is through there.” He offered me his hand. “I’ll go with you, whenever you’re ready,”

I hesitated and took a steadying breath before I took his hand.He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.“What now?” I asked him, looking at the firmly locked door in front of us.He smiled.

“It’s your mind,” he reminded me.“I’m sure you can summon the key, or find some way to open that door.” I stuck my tongue out at him, feeling back to my old self.He chuckled.I concentrated and a key appeared in my free hand.I moved to put it in the lock.“Remember, I’m right here with you,” he gripped my hand tightly, reassuringly, as I unlocked the door and walked through.

I tumbled out of control into the memories. I would have fallen into them, still out of control, if Hunter hadn’t caught me like a parachute.I felt his strength and his reassuring presence.He couldn’t stop me from remembering, couldn’t stop me from seeing my past, but he could shield me from some of the pain.I also knew that he would experience the pain since he was helping me.I was grateful for his help.

We landed gently in the memories.Hunter never dropped the connection, never abandoned me through the whole experience.

I came to locked in the trunk of a car.I guessed it was Kieran’s limo, but I couldn’t be sure.It was cramped.I tried moving, tried seeing if I could get out of here, but my hands were tied roughly behind my back.I found my ankles were tied together too.I squirmed and thrashed, claustrophobic and desperate to get free.It was no use.I wanted to scream for help, but I wasn’t even allowed that.My lips had been sealed again, I couldn’t make any noises.I found myself weeping silently.It was all I could do.My head ached from the knockout tap Kieran had given me.It was too much.At least no one could see me crying.

I lost track of time as we drove.I think I dozed off for awhile.The vehicle stopping drew my attention and snapped me out of whatever daze I had been in.The engine shut off and my heart started racing as fear came over me.The trunk opened after a minute.I saw Kieran and felt myself cringe away from him in fear.He chuckled.“You fear me? Good.That is just the first lesson, though.There are many more to learn.” He picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.I made a muffled squeak of protest, but that was all I could do.All I could see was his backside from my vantage point. I wouldn’t see the mansion until much later.

I was dumped unceremoniously among suitcases and boxes.“Get that cleaned and properly attired and bring it to the ballroom.” I heard Kieran order someone I couldn’t see.“You have an hour.Have one of the shifters help.” He stalked off to do other things.I realized that I was the ‘it’ that he was referring to.

“Reem, come help!” a familiar voice called.Rose came over with a hunk of a man.He was only a few years older than us, but he was built.My teenage hormones outranked my fear for an instant at the appearance of this red haired Thor-like beauty.Our brains are strange things sometimes when hormones could override fear if only for an instant.

I was snapped back to reality when he bent to pick me up.I struggled, humiliated, but it was no use.Soon we were making our way through the mansion.We stopped at a door which led into the baths.Reem set me on my feet.I watched him shift one hand into an orange and black striped paw.He extended a claw and cut the bindings on my wrists and ankles.I nodded my thanks to him as I tried to rub feeling back into my hands.“Thanks Reem, I’ll take care of her from here.Warn the others that she’s the one Master Kieran has been looking for,” Reem’s eyes grew wide.He fell to one knee in front of me.I didn’t know what he was up to and was equally shocked when he took one of my hands and kissed the back of it.

“Princess,” he whispered the word, but I still heard him clearly.

“Stop that!” Rose hissed in a whisper.“That’s why you need to warn the others.Master Kieran will kill us all if people start bowing to her.Now shoo and go tell the others.” Reem left after a last glance at me.Rose dragged me into the bathing room.It was huge, steamy and fully of baths and a few female bathers and attendants.Rose pushed me to hurry and undress.“There’s no room for modesty here,” she reminded me.I was still stiff from my uncomfortable car ride.Despite my blushing and wordless protests, Rose helped me strip and bathe.She left me while the attendant dried and styled my hair.I kept myself wrapped firmly in a towel while she did.I didn’t know why she bothered doing my hair, but soon it was glossy and curling down my back.It was prettier than I could ever remember it being.

Rose came back when my hair was done, holding a bundle of cloth.“Come on, there’s not much time left.” I stood and she helped me put the dress on.Calling the piece of cloth a dress was giving it more credit than it deserved.My aunt would have called the garment a slip.It was off white, only slightly darker than sheer.It had spaghetti straps and almost went down to my knees.“I know you can’t talk right now.Keep your head down and keep quiet once you can.Do what he says and you’ll be fine,” she advised.I nodded, terrified of what would come next.She led me from the safe bathing room to the ballroom.Kieran hadn’t arrived yet, but the room was filling up.Most of the people gathered were women and girls with collars around their necks.There were a few men too, but the vast majority were women.I wondered momentarily why every person in the room was a redhead.The thought was fleeting, though, as Rose directed me to the empty middle of the room.She positioned me so I was facing what appeared to be the main entrance. 

“Kneel here,” she ordered.I did as she bid.She knew how to keep me safe.Or at least as safe as possible.She positioned me until she was happy, my head bowed and holding my wrists out in offering to the vampire who would be coming.“Don’t move,” Rose whispered into my ear.“Do whatever Master Kieran says.I can’t help you until this part is over,”

I waited there, stiff and unmoving, willing my body to stay still even though it hurt.My arms ached from holding them in the air and my knees hurt from the hard floor.I was trying not to shiver.It was cold in here and the dress was not very warm.Finally, the doors opened.There was a flurry of movement around me as the rest of the slaves bowed, curtsied, or knelt to the person who entered.I would later learn their reaction had to do with their status in the household.As the newest member, I had no status, until Kieran established my status, so I was left kneeling, like the lowest of the low.Kieran stepped up to me.I kept my head down, my eyes down, willing this to be over quickly. 

I shouldn’t have made that wish.

He grabbed my wrists and hauled me, stumbling, to my feet.I worked hard to keep my eyes down.“This acquisition is called Adianna.It will be my pet after its training is complete.” He addressed the crowd, announcing my status to them all.“Go about your business.” Before they could react, he left the room, dragging me with him.I half ran, trying to keep up with him.He still held both of my wrists in his steel grip.We went down and down flights of stairs.My bare feet were freezing and it hurt to move, but I had no choice but to try to keep up with him, or get dragged trying.He waved his hand and the metal door at the bottom of the stairs swung open.There were no windows down here, just cold stones, doors of what I would learn were cells, and a single guard to watch over them all. 

Kieran opened one of the cells at the end of the hall, furthest away from the opening out of this dungeon.He threw me inside hard enough that I crashed into the far wall.To make matters more humiliating, he shackled my ankle to a chain connecting it to the wall.The cell was tiny, all it had in it was a toilet.There wasn’t even a bed of any kind.Not even a blanket.“You will stay here until you learn your place and learn how to behave.You will learn quickly.You have until my coronation.” With that, he stalked out of the cell and slammed the door shut.It was one of the solitary confinement doors, completely solid but for a window at eye-level and a slot at the bottom for food trays.He slid the window closed, locking me in darkness.That window had been the only source of light. 

I curled in a ball at the back of the cell and began my waiting.I don’t know how long I was left alone for.I lost track of time almost immediately in the dark.I dozed.I waited.I paced the tiny cell.I tried imagining my friends and what they were doing while I tried to pass the time.Food was slid into my cell.I devoured it as fast as I could.It was only a tiny bowl of rice.My stomach was still growling when it was gone.I heard nothing from the outside and was left in the dark again. 

The torture started after that.I didn’t remember all of it and Hunter’s presence saved me the pain of reliving every moment of it.I remembered Kieran coming into my cell.He was my only visitor and I hated each time I saw him.He whipped me, beat me, hurt me with magic.He forced me to change shapes into that weird hybrid form. How he forced me, I couldn’t remember, but he used magic to make me, though it was my natural form, or so he said. He forced me to shift back and forth, back and forth until I physically couldn’t anymore, no matter how much he beat me.He swore that I would learn to do it on command.He made me hold that strange form for longer and longer periods of time.Every time he visited, he sank his fangs into my body, taking blood each time.

Days, weeks, maybe even months passed in that tiny cell.Weight fell off of me as the stress of too little food, too much physical exertion, and almost constant blood loss took a horrible toll on my body.There were no showers.I was filthy, humiliated, covered in bruises, cuts, scars.I was constantly in pain, constantly starving.My body was too weak, devouring itself to keep up with Kieran’s demands, to do much of anything, much less escape.I wished his coronation would be soon so this torture would end.I hoped I would die so I wouldn’t have to live through this hell anymore. 

I learned proper address.I learned proper behavior, learned my place, learned his expectations for every single thing I did.Each lesson came with a beating.More bruises, blood spilled, torture. 

Until one day.I heard the door unlocking and slid to the proper position, on my knees, head bowed, offering the wrist he preferred to take blood from.I was in the hybrid form he seemed to prefer for some reason.I didn’t want to be beaten. I moved without thinking to try to please him, so he wouldn’t beat me, wouldn’t torture me that day.I felt his smile and heard it in his voice.“Good. You have finally learned, pet.Just in time too, my coronation is next week and you need to be ready.”

Some part of me shattered at his praise and I lost myself into the role I was playing, just to keep from being hurt anymore.My will had broken and diminished to wanting nothing more than the torture to end.I was only thirteen, but still felt that I had failed under the torture. I should have been made of something stronger, but I was just a child and my innocence had been shattered, broken, defeated.

The grown me mourned my lost innocence. 


	14. Now

We were jolted out of my memories and fell back into ourselves. I realized I was sobbing, mourning for my lost innocence, for everything I had lost in that tiny cell.Hunter had shared my pain, had shared my memories.He pulled me into his arms and I didn’t resist him. Yesterday I would have resisted.Today, he had more than proven himself and had been through everything with me. There was no pity in his eyes.There was just the pain we had just shared.I let him pull me into his arms and sobbed uncontrolled while he held me.He didn’t say anything as he let me cry myself out.There were no words to be said.We both knew what had happened.We both knew what I had lost in that cell.I don’t know how long we stayed like that, with me sobbing into Hunter’s chest.I finally looked up at him and realized he had been crying too.He was trying to do so silently, trying to keep me from noticing.Boys weren’t supposed to cry, after all, especially not warriors, not werewolves.I realized what had hurt him to the point of making my werewolf protector cry.He had not only experienced the pain and torture I had lived through, but he had also seen what happened to his sister. I rubbed the tears roughly from my eyes and looked up at Hunter, pushing myself out of his arms. “Did you see Rose?” I asked him.I shook my head. “I mean Lily?”

Hunter nodded.“I saw her.Thank you for sharing your memories with me,” he added.

“Even though they hurt you?” I asked him.I knew my memories had hurt him, almost as much as they had hurt me.He nodded again, tears welling in his eyes.I pretended to ignore them just as he pretended they weren’t there.It was common courtesy when we were both pretending so hard that the tears weren’t there. 

“It was important to see what became of her after Kieran stole her from us,” Hunter explained softly.“We’ve been trying to get her back ever since.Kieran hasn’t shown himself in years.Not since...” He trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. 

“Not since he took me,” I finished for him.I looked up at him.“I’m sorry,” I told him.“I don’t know why all of this happened.I know he took her looking for me.I wish...I wish I could’ve saved her from that pain.Wish I could have saved all of them.” I felt the tears flowing down my cheeks again.Not mourning myself, but mourning all of the redheads in Kieran’s service.It was because of me they were there.I didn’t know how I knew that information, but I knew it was true.Hunter pulled me back into his arms. 

“It’s not your fault,” he told me softly.“It was never your fault.There was nothing you could do.It was Kieran’s fault and no one else’s.” he insisted.“He was after me!” I insisted through ugly sobs.“He’s over 1000 years old.He’s a grown up and made decisions to go hunt down a child.” Hunter reminded me gently.“It’s not your fault.None of it was your fault.”There was a noise from the doorway.We both turned to look at it.

“What are you doing to her?” I heard the yell from the doorway.It was Michael, interrupting at the most inopportune moment. “Get the hell away from her!” Hunter sighed in exasperation. “Adi! Invite me in!” Michael snarled, banging on the magical barrier that kept him out without my express invitation. I shrank back from the angry male, from the command I didn’t want to follow.Hunter stood, gently extracting himself from where he had been holding me safe in his arms.In the same movement, he wrapped the blanket back around me, a comforting safe action. 

“Stay here please,” he bid, careful not to make it a command.“You’ll be safe.I’ll deal with Michael.You don’t have to let him in.” He headed to the door and the seething Michael.I saw that the rest of my friends were standing behind Michael at the door.Hunter stepped through the doorway, out of the protections on this room. “I haven’t done anything to her,” 

“She’s crying!” Michael interrupted. “You did something!Adi, what did he do?” he demanded, turning on me.He obviously didn’t trust Hunter to give him the truth. I stood from my bed, dropping the blanket and made my way hesitantly over to the door. I stayed on my side of the barrier, though.I wasn’t going closer to the angry male than I had to. 

“He didn’t hurt me,” I told them all.“He helped me.He went above and well beyond what was necessary.I won’t have you maligning him when he hurt himself to help me,” I sounded stronger than I felt, standing up to Michael.My friends all looked shocked that I was standing up to him.I wouldn’t have had the courage had it not been for Maester Wright’s barrier.Michael actually took a step backward, away from me.

“What on earth could he have done?” his tone was still accusing.He wasn’t going to believe me until I told him exactly what had happened. 

“He lived through some of the worst memories you could possibly imagine with me, just so I didn’t have to face them alone.I needed to remember what happened, and he stood by me, shared the pain with me.He experienced the pain and torture I went through under Kieran when there was absolutely nothing making him be so kind,” I told Michael firmly.Hunter had turned pink and was looking away.I don’t think he knew how to handle all of the praise I was throwing at him. 

Michael continued to glare. “There’s no way. He tricked her. He’s taking advantage of her.No one would do that. No one.” 

“Sister Adianna is telling the truth,” Larissa said firmly from behind the rest of the crowd.Michael turned to glare at her instead.The group parted and Larissa stepped forward.Her unicorn horn was glowing. 

“But-” Michael started to protest, but he was cut off again. 

“Knock it off, Michael. You can’t lie in front of an alicorn,” Paige hissed at him. “Thank Hunter for not knocking sense into you and let’s move on with the evening.”

“We’re gathering in the conference room downstairs to work on homework and research Adi’s tracking glyph.We came up to ask if you guys want to join us?” Carl explained, breaking the tension with his usual grin.Hunter relaxed.I even gave him a tentative smile. Michael grumped, but he backed away and murmured a ‘sorry’ to Hunter. 

“Your new books are in the conference room,” Michael told me.“I put them there for safekeeping after the vampire incident earlier.”I nodded and stepped out of the safety of my room to join them.Larissa grabbed one of my hands and Bree came up on my other side.They were comforting presences as we made our way down to the conference room.I peeked over at Hunter while we were walking.He was talking about research with Paige.He caught my glance and looked away quickly, his cheeks reddening again.I smiled and listened to Larissa chat about the unicorns. Bree nuzzled my hand and I kept my hand on her head as we walked. 

The conference room they had chosen was more of a study room. There were tables and desks, big stuffy armchairs and cushions and even a fireplace, with an unnecessary, but aesthetically pleasing, fire.It looked comfortable and safe and the perfect environment for study or research.Carl made the first move and claimed one of the tables, spreading out his school books and homework.Michael joined him.Apparently, they had classes together and were working on one of their assignments due the next day.The two unicorns sat at one of the tables with Paige, pouring over ancient looking books and talking about the glyph on my hand.I found a comfy looking chair in the corner of the room furthest from the door.Anyone after me would have to go through all of my friends to get to me.It was right next to the fireplace, too.I gathered all of my new books and things and curled up there to begin my work of catching up.Bree curled up in front of the fire, resting, but keeping an eye on me, just like any guard dog would.Larissa bounced over to me and showed me how to use the new cell phone I had been given.The last phone I’d had was a flip phone...Hunter watched us for a minute, seeming to make sure I was ok before joining Paige and the older unicorns in their research.I put everyone’s numbers in my new phone before Larissa and I booted up my new laptop so I could work on catching up on the technology I’d missed in the last four years.Vampires were notoriously behind on new technologies...We worked for a long while in quiet conversation, until we heard voices from outside of our study room. 

“She can’t stay here!” A cold voice insisted from outside our study room’s door. I saw the speakers through the open door, though they weren’t looking at us, and seemed not to realize that their conversation could be overheard.One of them was Maester Wright.The other was a thin man with sallow skin, a large, hooked nose, and yellow, uneven teeth. He had shoulder-length, greasy black hair which framed his face, and cold, black eyes.That’s Professor Rickman. He hates everyone.Wonder what he’s doing here. He usually doesn’t come to the dorms... Hunter explained to me as we all quieted to hear the conversation.“She’s putting us all in danger,” Professor Rickman continued.“Not only is she a girl in the boys’ dorm, parents will find out about that eventually, you know, but the king of the vampires is after her.You’re putting all of the students and this school in danger by keeping her here.” 

“What do you suggest we do? Let Kieran have her? Let him have the most magical being in existence? Let him have the rightful Queen of the vampires? Hand over the Heart of all of the People?” Maester Wright demanded back.His words hurled through me, resounding in the very fiber of my being. I had known there was a reason Kieran had wanted me in the first place.I didn’t know what all of the things Maester Wright said meant, but I knew they were talking about me, and I knew his words were true. 

“Of course not, but don’t keep her here.Send her to a safe house.” The other man suggested. 

Maester Wright shook his head.“She deserves a life.I won’t send her to another prison, just for convenience,” he insisted. 

“Then you are putting this entire school in danger.” Professor Rickman turned and stormed away from Maester Wright, who finally seemed to realize that the study room door was open when he saw us all watching him, not even hiding our eavesdropping anymore. 

“Curses...” he murmured and headed towards us, presumably to sort out the situation and calm what he had just said. 

I felt my eyes glaze over as memories overwhelmed me, dragging me back into the past.Hunter was close enough.I reached for him blindly, clutching his arm as the memories flooded over me. /I’m here/ He told me firmly, strongly, anchoring me and being my strength as we were both swept into my memories.


	15. Then

I remembered things I shouldn’t have been able to.I had only been a baby, maybe a toddler when they had happened.I saw the memories through my grown eyes, though and understood the things I could never have possibly understood at the time.I also felt Hunter’s presence in my mind.I didn’t see him this time, not yet anyway, but I felt that he was there, both lending me his strength and experiencing what I was remembering.

I found myself in the arms of a woman.I recognized her as my mother, even though I hadn’t seen her since I was old enough to remember.Her long red hair tickled my nose.I looked out over the crowd in the well lit ballroom.They were mostly vampires.I understood that now, though it hadn’t meant anything to me then.I heard my father announcing that I was their trueborn daughter, a gift from the High Lady of the Fae.He announced that I was their heir, princess of the vampires. 

It meant nothing to me then.All of the pretty lights, new people, shiny jewelry, it was all too much excitement and way more interesting than my dad babbling on to them. 

“How do we know what you say is true and she isn’t just a baby you kidnapped from the human world?” a voice demanded from the crowd. 

At that convenient moment, I sneezed and shifted into the hybrid form that Kieran had preferred I stay in, using my uncontrolled magic.Though it was a tiny baby version.My father took me from my mother and showed me to the crowd.I giggled and flapped my tiny wings. “Here is your proof,” he told the crowd.All of the shifters in the room knelt to me.The vampires followed suite, though some of them were clearly displeased. 

Through my adult perspective, I noticed Kieran in the crowd, and noticed that he was the last to kneel.

*

Time warped around me and memories flew by until I was back to Kieran rescuing me from the cell.It felt like rescue, even though he was the one who had kept me there in the first place.He lifted me into his arms, cradling me like I was actually precious to him.He took me up to the baths and ordered Rose and the others to have me bathed.I didn’t fight them as they bathed me, cleaning the dungeon grossness and my own blood off of me.They cleaned my wounds and I was allowed to dress in the simple slave uniform of tunic and leggings.More clothing than I’d had since I’d entered Kieran’s manor. 

I braved my voice once I was clean, dressed, and had a heaping plate of food in front of me.“How long?” I asked Rose tentatively.She seemed to be the slave in charge around here.She shook her head and looked sad. 

“It’s been months,” she told me softly.I dug into my meal, trying to get as much food into my system as I could while I digested her words.I truly had been in that hell for months. It had seemed like ages, but I hadn’t been able to be sure.“We’ve been preparing for Master Kieran’s coronation since he brought you back here,” she continued to explain.She didn’t comment on my lack of manners as I devoured my food.She seemed to understand what I had been through and seemed like she was the last one to judge.“Master Kieran’s coronation is next week.We will be moving back to the palace later today.He wants you to be prominent in his coronation. You won’t be leaving his side for the entire event.So the two of us will be training you on exactly what you need to do to survive the evening.” I nodded, grateful for her help.“We begin as soon as the move is complete.” She got back to her work, and I devoured the rest of my meal, feeling full for the first time in months. 

I had no official orders from Kieran that day, so I followed Rose around and helped her with the last of the preparations.Kieran had me called to him that evening.Rose led me to him, promising to teach me the layout of the manor later.I thanked her again for all of her help and went to see what Kieran wanted.I entered the room where he was waiting and knelt, bowing my head and holding my wrists out to him.It had kept me from getting beaten earlier that day.I was hoping my luck would hold. 

Luck was with me.Kieran appeared in front of me, moving so fast that I couldn’t have seen him, even if I had been looking at anything besides the blood red carpet I was kneeling on.“Good, you are learning,” he purred.He grabbed my wrists and pulled me gently to my feet.I kept my eyes down, head bowed, trying to look as submissive as possible.“We will be leaving for the palace shortly. Do not speak to any of my kind.Do as you’re told and you will survive through the coronation.” I didn’t answer.It wasn’t expected that I would have an answer for him. 

He grabbed my wrist and brought it to his mouth, sinking his fangs deep into my skin.I stiffened at the pain, but knew not to cry out.I tried to ignore it as he drank my blood.He usually stopped at just a taste, just a drink, but not today.Today he took and took, watching me carefully.I didn’t fight him as I felt myself weaken.I didn’t fight him as my heartbeat sped to compensate.I didn’t fight as the blackness overtook my vision.I had been too weak to fight him even if I had tried.Somehow, I felt him run his tongue over the bite marks on my wrist, sealing them before he swept me up into his arms. 

*

I didn’t know how much time had passed before I came to.I recognized we were back in Kieran’s rooms in the palace.I sat up slowly.I wasn’t dizzy from blood loss anymore, so enough time must’ve passed for me to regain the blood I had lost.I was in the slave sleeping quarters.I figured it was best to wait until Rose came to get me. 

I didn’t have to wait long.

“Good, you’re up,” she greeted me.“Let’s get to work.”

The week slipped by with training on what I would have to do and how the coronation would work.I had to have every detail down perfectly.I wanted time to slow so I would have more time to learn.Unfortunately, time is fickle and decided to slip by as fast as possible. 

It felt sudden, but we were at the night of the coronation and Rose was helping me get ready for it.I was again fitted into a ball gown that was more suited for a princess than a slave. This one fit me much better than the first one had.It was fitted perfectly and actually made me look pretty, even though I was still a freak in hybrid form, which Rose and Kieran had both made perfectly sure I knew I was to remain in all evening.Kieran was also taking no chances with me speaking this evening.I was lucky he despised gags for being ugly, or he’d have gagged me too.Instead, he sealed my lips with magic and paralyzed my vocal cords.I wasn’t making any noise no matter what he did to me.

All too soon, Kieran was leading me, in chains, down to the throne room for the official coronation.I stayed silent, out of the way, and did exactly as I was told I was supposed to do.The coronation was going smoothly, until Sanguis, the current king, asked Kieran the question that damned me.

“State for the court the reason you feel you are the rightful king of the vampires,” Sanguis demanded from Kieran. Kieran dragged me forward and I went to him, kneeling before him as I had been told to do at this point.He turned me to face the crowd.

“This is the daughter of Adalia and Lazarus, the last rightful Queen and King of the vampires.She has given herself to my service of her own free will. As such, I own her, and the title is officially due to me,” Kieran told the crowd. There were gasps of surprise and some of the vampires, and shifters in the room looked closer at me. 

I moved to the side, away from the action again as Sanguis took the crown to place on Kieran’s head.I knelt, behind Kieran, keeping my eyes down, until I heard the movement in the crowd.Before the crown had been placed on Kieran’s head, all of the shifters in the room knelt as one.One glance at them and I realized I was in deep, deep trouble.They were kneeling to me, not to Kieran.A moment later, the vampires in the room dropped to their knees as well. I couldn’t keep the look of horror from my face when I realized that they, too, were all kneeling to me.

“She is our rightful Queen!” A voice called from the crowd.Kieran snarled, and turned on me.He lifted me by the throat and threw me into one of the nearest walls. My head cracked against the wall.The room spun around me and darkness was overtaking me.

“I am your rightful king.She is a slave, nothing more!” I heard Kieran yell at the crowd.I missed what happened next as the darkness swallowed me and were were thrown out of my memories.


	16. Now

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the visions from my sight. Maester Wright had come into the room and Carl was explaining to Maester Wright about my memory visions, buying us time. Hunter had been incapacitated too while we were trapped in my memories.

“I didn’t mean for you to hear like that, Ms. Kinkade.” Maester Wright addressed me once my vision was cleared and we were back to ourselves. I was still feeling the aftereffects of the memories, though, and simply nodded my reply, curling further into my comfy chair. “Professor Rickman does have a point, though, you can’t stay in this dorm forever. Now that the the news has gotten out that you’re here, parents are going to start complaining, among other problems. We’re going to have to move you to the girls’ dorm sooner than later.” I tried to open my mouth to protest, but I couldn’t. It was as if my mouth had been sealed shut by Kieran again. My vocal cords were still paralyzed and I could feel myself panicking.

Carl rushed to my side. “What’s wrong, Adi?” he asked softly, calmly. I saw Hunter work to wrench his mouth open.

“It’s a side effect of the memories. It’ll pass in a minute, I promise,” he told me before turning to Maester Wright. “She’s safer here, you said it yourself. We can’t move her!”

/She needs to move to the girls’ dorm. It’s not up for debate. She’ll be just as safe there. We can’t risk anyone taking her away from the school, they could try to force her away if they find out that she’s living in the boys’ dorm/ I didn’t think Maester Wright knew I could hear his thoughts again. I didn’t want to move. I liked it here. The memories were still riding me hard, but I had to protest. I wrenched my own mouth open.

“I don’t want to move,” I told Maester Wright. He glanced over at me with a look of pity in his eyes.

“You have to, dear. It was wrong of me to move you in here to begin with. You cannot stay in the boys’ dorm. You will be perfectly safe in the girls’ dorm and you will still be able to see all of your new friends. We won’t be taking them away from you,” his words were gentle, but his tone was serious. There wouldn’t be any arguing with him. “We’ll move you over tomorrow. It’s too dangerous to do tonight,” he looked at the purple gylph on my hand that was glowing softly.

“I came looking for you to discuss that glyph. I have an idea on how to remove it. I do have to warn you, it won’t be pleasant.” Maester Wright paused there, waiting for me to acknowledge his words. I nodded my understanding. I didn’t know what his plan was, but I knew the glyph needed to come off.

“Sebastian, will you please come in here?” Maester Wright asked. All eyes in the room turned to the door.

“Sebastian?” Hunter demanded, anger and outrage in his voice. Before I, or anyone else, could question what the problem was with Sebastian, I found out my answer. Sebastian entered the room and I felt his presence like a weight on my soul. He was a vampire, and a strong one at that.. I didn’t even look at him, my body obeyed automatically as my mind was still partially on the memories I had just relived. I threw myself to my floor on my knees, bowing to the vampire, instantly shifting into the hybrid form. My body remembered, even if my mind didn’t truly comprehend how I did it, or how to control the power. I felt myself shaking as I fought the instinct to flinch away from him. I just hoped he wouldn’t notice me, that I would get out of this without a beating.

The room erupted in chaos, people trying to help me, or attack the vampire, or just confusion. I stayed focused on what I was doing, keeping myself out of trouble and away from a beating. “Everyone out!” Hunter snapped. Carl gathered the others and ushered them from the room, ignoring their protests. He left only Maester Wright, Hunter, Sebastian, and Bree, who refused to leave.

Hunter rushed over to my side and knelt next to me. He touched my shoulder gently. “Honey, no, it’s ok now,” he told me softly, gently. He lifted me from my bow, despite my shaking. Bree came over and curled herself in my lap so I couldn’t return to the bow. “Shh, it’s ok.” Hunter wrapped me in his arms and I didn’t fight him. “You’re free now. No more bowing to them. They can’t hurt you anymore,” he promised. After more coaxing and reassuring, he finally got me off of the floor and curled back in the comfy chair I had claimed earlier.

I saw that Sebastian was looking at one of the bookshelves in the room, pretending not to have been watching what had happened. I knew I was probably deep red, embarrassed that they had seen me like that. Had seen my weakness. Maester Wright was watching, and I could tell he had been analyzing both my and Hunter’s reactions. I couldn’t tell from his expression how the analysis had gone. Hunter stayed at my side, glaring at Maester Wright.

“I apologize for springing Sebastian on you, Ms. Kinkade.” Maester Wright told me once we were all settled again. “I had to see the effect a strong vampire has on you. It will take a lot of work to overcome what they have done to you, but I have faith you will be able to with time.” Hunter was still glaring at Maester Wright for what he had put me through. I just nodded. I was too drained to do anything else, and I still felt Sebastian’s power pushing on me.

“I was not lying, however, when I said that I thought Sebastian would be able to help remove that glyph. Sebastian is a vampire, but he is untainted. He has never tasted human blood. I believe that will provide the correct power to remove the glyph.” Maester Wright explained. I was shocked that a vampire could survive without drinking human blood.  Except that it somehow sounded like something I knew.

“He doesn’t sparkle, does he?” the words came out of my mouth without me even realizing the thought had crossed my mind. I clapped my hands over my mouth in horror, flinching away from all of them. Instead of attacking me, or hurting me, they all burst out laughing.

“No, I do not sparkle,” Sebastian said gently with a smile. Though he did sound slightly offended at the suggestion. “It is not appropriate for vampires to sparkle.” I couldn’t place his accent, but it sounded old fashioned, maybe British? “I am Sebastian. It is a pleasure to meet you, milady,” he bowed to me and I remembered that I was supposedly the rightful ruler of the vampires. “I have not forgotten Adalia and Lazarus. You are a spitting image of your mother. It would be my great honor to help you heal.”

“You knew my parents?” I asked, my voice getting a mind of its own again. He rose from his bow and nodded.

“I was on their council. They were always supportive of my...different eating habits.” He stepped closer and I realized I wasn’t as afraid of him anymore. I wanted to learn more from him. I was wary and his power was still drowning me, but he wouldn’t hurt me, not right this moment anyway. He gave me a true smile then and crossed the rest of the room until he was in front of me. I touched Bree’s head, calming her growls.

“It’s ok, Bree. Why don’t you go lay back by the fire? I’ll be ok and Sebastian probably needs a bit of space.” She growled once more in warning to Sebastian before she went back to her spot in front of the fire. She was watching Sebastian closely and I could tell she hadn’t wanted to leave me. Hunter was still at my side, though, so I was perfectly safe. Maester Wright was also close by.

“May I see the glyph, Princess?” Sebastian asked. It took me a moment to realize that he was talking to me. I blushed again, but raised my hand so he could see the glyph. “This is evil magic indeed,” he looked over the glyph for awhile longer. “I think I can help. Will you please allow me to try?” I nodded and he pointed at one edge of the glyph. “I am going to start here and just try to remove a small piece.” I was grateful he was telling me what he was going to do. It was comforting.

He reached out to touch the glyph and the next instant I found myself screaming. My skin boiled and bubbled under his finger, as though he had dropped acid on my hand. Sebastian jumped back from me, putting space between us. Hunter took my hand and I felt cooling healing running through it. I stopped screaming and crying when he soothed the pain. He cursed when he couldn’t heal the skin. All he could do was remove the pain.

“I apologize, Princess. I did not believe it would cause you so much pain. Maester Wright, we will have to find another way to remove the glyph. Kieran has sealed the magic and put a strong spell on her so no untainted vampire can touch her. It would probably kill her for me to try again.” Maester Wright nodded. I was still hyperventilating from the pain I had just experienced and clutching onto Hunter so hard my nails were digging into his skin. He didn’t complain. He wrapped my hand in a bandage, covering the angry red burn. At least it didn’t hurt anymore.

I realized I was zoning out and had missed a couple of minutes when Hunter was done and spoke again. “Adi, we’re going to work on another plan to get rid of the glyph. Do you and Bree want to stay in here?” Hunter asked me softly. I nodded. It was safe enough in here. “We’ll be just down the hall if you need us.” He didn’t seem to want to leave, but he finally went with Sebastian and Maester Wright, discussing options for how to defeat the power of the glyph. Bree curled back up at my feet. They were giving me time to rest and recuperate from their last attempt. I was safe in this study with my werewolf bodyguard.

Michael came in a minute later. “They’re working without me,” he grumbled. “Apparently, since I’m human and not magical, I can’t help them with research.” he took a nearby chair . He must’ve noticed the glazed look in my eyes, since he left me alone for awhile.

“What the hell did they do to you, Adia?” he finally asked. I blinked and refocused on him.

“Sebastian tried to remove the glyph on my hand. It hurt,” I told him simply. I didn’t want to go into it.

“You bowed to that asshole-” he started. I nodded, looking down, trying to keep the tears from my eyes. I was embarrassed that he had seen me like that. He had seen what Kieran had made me. I realized then that as some point I had shifted back to human form. I didn’t remember doing it.

“I was trapped with Kieran for four years. He was vicious and it’s going to take more than a couple of days to get over what he did to me.” I explained. Michael nodded.

“Vampires,” he hissed. “We should just kill them all and be done with it.” I tried to give him a smile, but it was so hard. I was tired and the pain was coming back in my hand from the burn. He must’ve seen something in my expression, since he pretended to read a book to let me have some semblance of privacy. I turned from him and closed my eyes, just hoping to drown out the pain for a couple of minutes.


	17. Then

I wasn’t knocked unconscious when Kieran threw me, just dazed for a minute. I blinked back the darkness, trying to focus on the uproar in the room. The vampires were arguing with Kieran. I could tell they were going to fight him and his people. I don’t know why I cared. I knew though, knew if they fought Kieran they would die. If they died, I would be in a worse situation. I don’t know how I knew any of this, but I knew it, and knew I needed to stop it.

Power rushed through me and I somehow broke through the enchantments Kieran had put on me. “No!” I shrieked. “Stop!” I ordered the vampires. Somehow, for some reason, they did what I said. They stopped their preparations to fight Kieran. I saw looks of horror from some in the crowd. 

They returned to bowing to me. Kieran snarled and turned to me.

The next thing I knew, Kieran had grabbed me and was dragging me down the hall. “Stupid slave. You were supposed to remain silent,” he hissed at me. “You are jeopardizing my plans.” He dragged me down and down the floors of the castle. I couldn’t keep up with his vampiric stride and just had to hope that I would get through this with as little injury as possible. 

I knew I had screwed up badly.

We ended in a section of the dungeons, deep under the castle. My chains were removed and he ripped the ball gown off of me, until I was barefoot before him in just my slip. It was the same horrid outfit I had worn the last time I had been locked in a cell. I was already getting flashbacks of that experience, and knew this time would be much, much worse.

“You’re lucky I need your blood, and need you alive,” he hissed at me. “You’re going to stay here and think over the penalties for disobeying me.” He grabbed my left arm. I tried to back away from him, tried to pull my arm from his grasp. I sensed that he was going to do something awful to it. He held my arm out and brought his other hand down hard on my forearm. He was a vampire, and it didn’t take his full strength to break my arm. I shrieked and howled at the pain. Ignoring his own words about needing my blood, he had let the bone break through my skin. I was nauseous seeing my own blood outside of my body. He threw me in the empty cell and slammed the door closed on my howls of pain and my tears. I heard him leave, leaving me alone with nothing but my pain and the cold of the empty cell. 

I ripped the bottom of my slip off with a claw and my good hand and tried to bind the wound, at least staunch the flow of blood some. It was hard, and it hurt like hell, but I managed to at least cover the wound. I cried and tried to distract myself from the pain with something, anything. There was nothing in my surroundings except a toilet. There were other cells in the room, but they were all empty. I was alone here.

I cradled my broken arm, sitting in the corner of my cell furthest from the door. I was dozing, still in pain, but out of it from blood loss.

It was days before anyone came.

Blood was continuing to flow from the wound. I could barely eat the bowl of porridge I was brought everyday. The dungeon was perpetually freezing. I was sitting against the wall of the cell, soaking up all of the coolness I could from it. I was burning hot and everything was muddled. 

I looked up, shocked out of my stupor when the door to the room of cells creaked open. Rose and Reem slipped in. Rose stayed by the door, keeping watch while Reem came over to my cell. He picked the lock and rushed over to me, crouching by my side with feline grace. I looked up at him through the haze of fever. “Shit, she’s dying. This is going to take longer than we planned.”

“Hurry up!” Rose hissed at him. We don’t have a lot of time.

“Let me see your arm,” Reem told me gently. I tried to hold it out to him, but my limbs felt like lead. He conjured a small ball of light and held it over my arm. “This is going to hurt,” he warned me. I was too delirious with fever to care. He realigned the broken bones in my arm and rebound the wound tightly, using enough healing magic that the bleeding stopped. He placed his hand on my forehead and drew out some of the fever. “I can’t heal you all the way, Master Kieran would know for sure. He’s going to come down for you tomorrow.” He warned me. He used magic to make me sleep, so I could heal more before Kieran came for me. 

Kieran came for me the next day as Reem had warned me. He threw me over his shoulder and carried me back up to the throne room. He threw me unceremoniously in front of the gathered vampires and shifters. I howled in pain, my arm hadn’t been healed all the way and started bleeding again at this abuse. “Swear your allegiance to me,” he ordered the crowd. A few of the vampires knelt to him, but many still refused. He nodded to one of his vampires and that vampire, a girl in white robes came up to me. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered in my ear before she did as Kieran had undoubtedly told her. She placed her hands on the soles of my feet and they erupted in blisters and fire, as if her hands were covered in acid. I realized then that she was Untainted. 

I shrieked and howled in pain and tears rolled down my cheeks.

More vampires knelt to Kieran, seeing my pain, seeing what he was doing to me. The Untainted vampire kept burning me with her hands, under Kieran’s orders, until all of the vampires had knelt down to Kieran, had acknowledged him as their King. 

They did it to save my life.


	18. Now

I was disoriented when I came out of the memories. I had dozed off in a comfy chair in the study. I found myself outside, walking. I blinked back the confusion and saw that Michael was leading me into the woods. “What’s going on?” I asked him, not understanding where we were or why we were walking into the woods. Alone.

The glyph on my hand was glowing bright purple in the moonlight. Michael continued leading me further into the woods. He was holding tightly onto my hand, half dragging me into the woods. “Michael! What’s going on?” I demanded, putting my feet down and trying to stop him until he explained.

“We have to kill them,” Michael said simply and continued pulling me away from the school. “I convinced Bree that I was taking you to bed. Stupid wolf believed me. Thankfully you can still walk during those visions of yours. I’m going to kill all the vampires and get this over with. Then you’ll be truly free and everything will get back to normal.” I was still digging my heels in, fighting against Michael and his crazy plan. I didn’t even think about using magic, it was still so foreign to me. Instead, I was struggling against a much stronger person as if that would help. It wasn’t my finest moment. “Stop fighting me, Adia. Everything is going to be ok. You won’t have to do anything except stand there,”

“No, this is crazy. Let’s go back!” I pleaded with him, trying to pull my wrist out of his grip. It was no use. We had entered a clearing in the woods, a big open field surrounded by trees. It was well-lit by the moonlight.

“I’m sorry for this, but it’ll all be over soon. I can handle a few vampires,” he insisted. I realized as he dragged me over to one of the trees that he had been planning this. “I can’t chase you and fight them off though,” he explained. The tree had a metal chain wrapped around it, secured with locks and a pair of handcuffs at the end.

“No!” I protested again, struggling harder against Michael, but it was no use. I couldn’t call up my magic now that I needed it. He was bigger and stronger than me and I was still weak from years of torture at Kieran’s hands.

“I’m not hurting you, Adia,” Michael insisted as he cuffed my wrists in front of me, attached to the tree by a decent amount of chain. He pulled a knife from his pocket and cut the bandage from my hand, allowing the glyph to glow even brighter. It was also growing. It had moved from just my hand and was slowly reaching up my arm, drawing purple spirals up my arm towards my elbow.

“Michael, no, let me go! Let’s go back to the others!” I pleaded, barely realizing there were tears flowing down my cheeks. I tugged at the chain around the tree, but Michael had secured it well.

 _Help!_ I called, trying to reach Hunter or Carl, or anyone who was more sane than Michael. I wasn’t sure if it would work, I couldn’t feel my magic, I was too panicked. I hated being confined. I hated what my so called friend did to me, even knowing what I had been through.

I sank to my knees, though, overcome with nausea as the vampires approached. “They’re coming, Michael, please, let’s go!” I cried at him, helplessly. There were too many vampires. There was no way Michael would be able to fight them all.

 _Adi, I’m coming!_ I heard Hunter’s voice in my mind. I flooded the connection with relief, conveying the situation to him at the same time. _I’m coming, just hold on._ I heard the snarls of the vampires as they entered the clearing.

“You have something that belongs to the vampires,” one of them told Michael after he had assessed the situation.

“It was nice of you to keep it safe until we could come collect it,” one of the female vampires added. I struggled harder against the cuffs, but they weren’t budging.

 _Hunter, the handcuffs! I can’t get free_ I told him. He felt closer now, the thought traveled easier.

 _Remember how you walked through your door? Find that feeling, do they same thing, pull your hands from the cuffs. Don’t try to break them, try to go through them._ I tried to ignore the vampires, tried to calm myself, calm my mind to find my magic. It took a few tries before I finally found it, finally was able to call it to me. I flooded myself with it and drew my wrists free of the cuffs. _Good!_ I felt Hunter’s praise and pride at my accomplishment. _Can you get away from them? I’m almost there._ I looked and there were too many vampires who were paying attention to me.

 _No, there’s too many, they’d be after me in an instant_. I replied.

 _Don’t draw attention to yourself. I promise I’ll be there soon._ I hoped Hunter had a plan for when he got here. We were doomed if he didn’t. _Stay in human form_ he bid me. I was reassured by those words that he did have a plan. I felt him sneak up behind me. _Stand up, don’t make a sound_. I did as he bid me, moving slowly, trying to not draw any more attention to myself than necessary. _Close your eyes._ Once I had, he threw magic into the clearing. A bright light that burned even through my closed eyes, erupted in the clearing. I heard the shrieks of pain from the vampires. Another burst of magic somehow incapacitated them. Hunter ran forward and picked me up in his arms. I didn’t fight him, didn’t make a sound as he continued running, as if I weighed nothing and grabbed Michael’s arm. Using another bit of magic, he lifted Michael off of the ground and took off running with the two of us in tow. Michael was unconscious, knocked out by whatever had incapacitated the vampires.

The effort of all the magic was draining Hunter, though. I could feel him slowing. He paused outside of the woods, looking for something. He finally spotted a gazebo. He set me down on my feet. “Can you make it to the gazebo?” he asked. I nodded and we both ran. I knew as well as he did that the vampires wouldn’t be incapacitated for long, and the glyph on my hand would bring them on us as soon as Hunter’s magic was gone.

We made it to the gazebo and Hunter threw the unconscious Michael into the corner. He threw up the strongest shields he could around the gazebo, hiding us from the vampires. I could see that the effort was seriously draining him. He wouldn’t be able to hold the shields for long. “Are you ok?” he asked me softly, sitting down against one of the gazebo walls. I sat down next to him.

“I’m fine. You got there in time.” I was still shaken up that Michael had done this to me.

“We have to come up with a plan. I’m not going to be able to hide us in these shields forever.” I nodded and thought about it. I reached out to him and touched his hand, using the physical contact to help channel my own magic. I pulled my magic back up and fed it in to him. He smiled at me. “Can you keep that up?” He was using my magic to power the shields. I nodded. My magic was still at full strength.

“For awhile,” I told him. I wasn’t sure how long my magic could last either.

“We just need to get some help. It would be easier if we didn’t have to worry about that moron,” he indicated Michael. “But we can’t just leave him here...” I knew the idea was tempting. “I can’t call reinforcements, they’ll jut get killed. I have to call someone who won’t be noticed among all the vampires out there.” The vampires were roaming around outside the gazebo and in the surrounding area, looking for traces of us. I saw the answer dawn in his eyes. “There’s only one person who can help us,” he whispered. I didn’t know who he meant, but I saw his eyes glaze for a minute as he made the telepathic call for help.

Now we just had to wait. Michael was still unconscious. Neither of us were interested in trying to wake him right now. Hunter and I were focused on keeping the shields up. So far the vampires couldn’t find my glyph through the shield. They must’ve known it was nearby, though, as more vampires were congregating in the area. I watched one wander closer and closer to our gazebo. Hunter got my attention and put a finger to his lips. “That’s our help,” he whispered. He opened a hole in the shield just long enough for the figure to slip through.

It was Sebastian.

“Princess, thank the Goddess you’re ok. Hunter told me what happened, most of it anyway,” he knelt down beside us, speaking in a whisper. “There’s a whole swarm of vampires out there. We’re not going to be able to get her past them without them noticing her,” he addressed Hunter. Hunter nodded.

“And there’s too many of them for us to fight. There’s only one way we’re all getting out of this,” he told Sebastian. I saw Sebastian’s eyes widen.

“No, we can’t. It might kill her!” He exclaimed, though still in a whisper.

“If we don’t, they’ll take her back to Kieran, which is worse than death,” Hunter replied. I agreed with him on that point. Going back to Kieran would be worse than death. I would rather just die and get it over with. Hunter turned to me. “Adi, Sebastian is going to have to remove that glyph. That’s the _only_ way we’re going to be able to sneak you past them. It’s going to hurt, like hell, and I’m sorry for that, but it’s the only way.” I nodded, tears in my eyes. I didn’t want more pain. Hunter glared at the unconscious Michael. “I will make sure he pays for this,” Hunter snarled. Sebastian glared at Michael too.

“I as well,” he swore to me. He turned his attention back to me. “It will be easier if you lie down, Princess.” I did as he suggested, lying on my back on the cold floor of the gazebo. I was terrified of how this was going to go. His touch had hurt so badly earlier. I held my arm out for him, the glyph had grown to cover all of my forearm. Sebastian cursed under his breath. Hunter held me and Sebastian placed his hands on the glyph.

I didn’t remember opening my mouth, but I heard the howl of pain. It didn’t sound like a human scream. It was a banshee wail of pain. _I’m so sorry_ I heard Hunter’s voice in my mind, piercing the pain for an instant. He clapped his hand over my throat and magic flowed through his hand, paralyzing my vocal cords, keeping me from making any noise. The vampires were coming closer, drawn by the sounds of my screams. Hunter used more magic to distract them, draw them off somewhere else. _I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry. I would_ never  _do this to you, but there’s no other way_. Hunter’s voice continued. I was sobbing silently, both from the pain, and from what Hunter was doing to me. He was physically holding me down, keeping me from bucking from the pain and restraining my voice. It brought such awful memories of Kieran back to the surface of my mind. They hurt almost as much as the pain of Sebastian’s hands on my arm. My arm felt like it was on fire, blistering and burning under Sebastian’s hands.

Finally, Sebastian removed his hands, stepping back away from me so he wouldn’t burn me anymore. I was still sobbing, though the sound wouldn’t come. Hunter tried to pull me into his arms. I resisted, sitting against the wall instead, pulling my knees to my chest and sobbing. I knew Hunter had done it to protect me. I knew he hadn’t wanted to hurt me, but the memories were riding me so hard, I couldn’t shake them.

“I’m so sorry,” Hunter whispered, crouching by my side. He placed healing magic in my arm, cooling the burning and driving away the pain, for now at least. “I know what Kieran did to you, know how much he hurt you. I know he violated you and stole your voice. I _never_ wanted to do that to you.” I nodded, shaking the unwarranted feeling of betrayal I had towards him. I didn’t trust my voice, but curled myself into his open arms and sobbed into his chest.

“I hate to interrupt, but we should get the Princess back to safety,” Sebastian interrupted our moment. Hunter looked up.

“There’s still too many vampires around. I can’t distract them and keep her safe.” He looked down at me again. “I hate doing this, but I have to ask you to do something else tonight that will be hard for you. I promise to get both myself and Michael back to the dorm safely, but I can’t get all of us back together without drawing their attention. I’ll lead them away, I’ll keep you safe. Will you let Sebastian take you back to the dorm? Without the glyph, his aura will be able to mask yours. He can get you back safely. I promise you that Sebastian will not harm you.” Hunter was asking a lot of me, and he knew it. I also knew that his plan was right. It was the only way we were all going to get through this safely. I nodded.

“I still cannot touch you,” Sebastian told me. He took of his cloak and handed it to Hunter. Hunter helped me stand and wrapped the cloak around me.

“You’ll be fine. You’ll be back in the dorm in a minute. Vampires travel extremely quickly.” The cloak was too big for me, but that was beneficial right now. The more of me that was covered, the less of a chance there was for Sebastian to accidentally touch me. Hunter triple checked to make sure I was covered before he nodded to Sebastian. Sebastian swept me up into his arms. I knew I weighed nothing to the vampire. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Hunter told me before Sebastian rushed off. I kept my eyes closed as the world blurred past us. Sebastian made a straight course back to the dorm. Hunter was zigzagging his way back, drawing the vampires away, leading them far enough away that they would lose the scent and give up.

It only took a minute before Sebastian had us back to the dorm, even though it was at least a mile away from where we had been. He set me down inside the door and stepped back, keeping a careful distance from me. A moment later, Maester Wright, and my friends surrounded us. I protested Maester Wright’s insistence that I go for first aid.

“Your arm is bleeding and burned,” he told me dryly. I still shook my head, posting myself at the window.

“Hunter is still out there,” I protested. I had to wait for Hunter to get back. I had to make sure he was safe.

“Hunter can take care of himself, and the idiot boy.” They continued trying to convince me, until Larissa finally came over to my post by the window with the first aid kit and began bandaging my arm. I waited and watched praying Hunter would be back quickly, while I worried for his safety.


	19. Then

I was in so much pain I couldn’t move, even once all of the vampires had knelt and sworn their fealty to Kieran. I didn’t move for the entire rest of the coronation. I ignored what the vampires were doing and took inventory of my injuries. I was a mess. The soles of my feet and my hands were blistered and burned as well as all sorts of other places on my body. I was weak and tired and still feverish on top of my arm still being broken.

Finally, the vampires started to leave to the reception. I forced myself to think past the pain and pay attention to my surroundings. Kieran came over to me. I flinched away from him, afraid he was going to hurt me more. Instead, he looked over at Reem. “Take her up to the healers. Make sure they do a good job fixing her up,” Reem bowed, acknowledging Kieran’s order.

Kieran left, taking Rose with him to attend him at the party. Reem came over to me and knelt by my side. “Princess, I’m so sorry,” he whispered to me.

“It’s not your fault,” I told him softly. Reem looked over my wounds.

“There’s no way you can walk,” he informed me. It wasn’t like I didn’t know that already. My feet were burned badly after all. He carefully picked me up in his arms. I didn’t protest. He was taking me to the healers. They had to be like doctors, they could fix anything, right?

Reem carried me up to the healers’ hall. He spoke the entire time, taking my mind off the pain as he did. I didn’t remember what he talked about, but he was caring and kind to me and that was enough at the time.

The healers were truly healers. They could use magic instead of medicine to cure almost anything. Unfortunately, they couldn’t heal the burns from being touched by an Untainted. Since it was a spell Kieran had placed on me himself, it wasn’t something they could counteract. They did heal my broken arm in an instant, then resorted to medicine for the burns. I got to lay in a bed and that seemed like such an amazing piece of comfort. I didn’t realize how far I had fallen until I realized that a bed seemed like extraordinary comfort. Whatever they had given me for the pain was also distorting my sense of time. Reem was always there whenever I woke though. He told me stories about shifters, myths, legends, anything that might take my mind off of things

I learned later that it was a couple of weeks before they cleared me to leave their care. I was in much better condition after spending the two weeks with them than since I had entered Kieran’s service. I didn’t want to go back to Kieran, but my vacation with the healers was over. They couldn’t hide that I was healed any longer and Kieran demanded me back in his service.

Reem walked me up to Kieran’s new suite. It was even bigger than his previous rooms had been. Kieran was waiting for us. We both dropped to our knees the moment we saw him. “Reem, dismissed,” Kieran ordered. Reem backed out of the room, keeping low as he did. Kieran came over to me and raised me to my feet. “Good, my pet is healed. You can return to my side where you belong.” These words were not as comforting as they appeared.

“As my master wishes,” I replied formally, keeping my eyes down. I was finally healed, I didn’t want to be injured again. I didn’t have a choice when he took blood. That was to be expected, he was a vampire after all.

I wasn’t expecting to be treated any differently by him now that he was king. I was mistaken, for awhile anyway. I was treated like a treasured pet. He gave me soft new dresses to wear, a soft place to sleep, and kept me well fed. He took me with him to every event he had to attend. I learned more about vampire politics in those meetings than any normal human ever would have. If I kept my eyes down and kept quiet, no one would notice I was there.

Soon, however, Kieran began getting paranoid again. He stopped taking me to as many meetings, keeping me locked in what equated to a closet in his room. He forbade me to ever speak and beat me viciously if I muttered so much as a noise. He was constantly using magic to make sure I couldn’t speak and would only take me out in public when I was thoroughly covered in those spells. He then started giving me chores to do around the suite too, almost constantly making me clean things when I wasn’t in meetings with him. I existed in a state of exhaustion, soon learning how to fall asleep while kneeling next to him during meetings. He barely let me sleep and even more rarely let me out of his sight, or the sight of chosen chaperones.

After months of him doing research, I finally found out what he was researching every day: a way to permanently take my voice. His preparations were completed after months of paranoia. I couldn’t protest when he performed the spell. He gave me no options, no way of trying to convince him that I would be good and wouldn’t speak. Much as the sea queen did in the little mermaid, he stole my voice, keeping it in a glass orb on a chain around his neck.

I sobbed myself to sleep that night with silent tears. I couldn’t utter a sound anymore.


	20. Now

My friends brought me a chair and kept me company while I waited. I refused to leave my post for anything, including sleep, or a proper trip to the hospital or healers. “Adi, go to bed, Hunter will be fine,” Paige insisted. I shook my head.

“I have to make sure he’s ok,” I told her stubbornly. All my body wanted was to sleep, but I had to make sure Hunter was ok. He had saved me tonight. The least I could do was make sure he made it home safely.

“She’s not going to change her mind,” Larissa told the others. She didn’t bother trying to get me to change my mind either. I nodded my thanks to her. Bree curled up at my feet, refusing to leave my side now that I was safely back.

“It’s ok, Bree. You didn’t know Michael was going to do that,” I told her gently as I petted her.

“What happened out there?” Maester Wright asked. I told him as much as I knew, detailing everything that happened from the moment I came back from the vision of the past.

After that, it was just a waiting game. Maester Wright and Sebastian went back to their research in the study rooms. Eventually, the dorm fathers came around and kicked Paige and the unicorns out of the dorm. They tried to kick me out, but Carl explained the situation and they left me be, though they did insist that Carl go to bed. Carl protested, but they had authority over him.

“I’ll be fine,” I told him with as much of a smile as I could manage. “Sebastian and Maester Wright are nearby.” He nodded and finally agreed to go to his own room. He tried again to convince me to go to mine, but I shook my head.

“Stay with her, Bree,” Carl told the wolf before he grudgingly left for bed.

I waited and waited for Hunter, throwing my senses out for any sign of his return. I couldn’t feel him anywhere, though I could feel the vampires all over the school. I worked on my meditation while I waited, working on gathering control of my magic. It was something I could do while I sat and it helped keep me from falling asleep at my post.

Sebastian or Maester Wright would come check on me every now and then. They weren’t leaving my safety to chance. I could tell they wanted to send me to bed and the safety of my heavily shielded room, but I was ignoring them. They couldn’t force me without bodily dragging me to my room. The others they could threaten with detention and other loss of privileges. I had no privileges to lose and they weren’t willing to bodily move me when I was perfectly safe where I was.

Dawn came and went with no sign of Hunter. The vampires disappeared shortly before dawn. It was possible for them to survive in sunlight, but it was uncomfortable for them to be in the sunlight so most avoided it.

Michael finally staggered back right around breakfast. His clothes were torn and bloody. He was filthy and looked like he had walked through hell to get back here. I didn’t feel sorry for him. I was tempted to punch him in the face the moment he walked through the door. Instead, I jumped to my feet and rushed over to him without punching. “Where’s Hunter?” I demanded, while Bree growled and started barking at him.

Maester Wright and Sebastian both came running at Bree’s barks. Some of the students came running down the stairs from the dorm rooms including Carl. Carl didn’t have the same qualms as Maester Wright and Sebastian did in regards to bodily moving me away from harm. He assessed the situation in a moment and stepped between myself and Michael, pushing me backwards until I was far enough away from Michael to appease both Carl and Bree. Hands grabbed my arms, dragging me further away from Michael. I struggled, but the hands were strong, despite how feminine and small they were. I turned to see who was holding me back and saw that Bree was gone. Instead there was a naked teenage girl with long tangled brown hair holding me back from Michael. Bree had finally shifted back to human form.

Carl turned to her. “Bree!” He exclaimed. “You came back to us,” he said more gently. He stripped off his jacket and wrapped it around her. “It’s ok, you can let Adi go. She’s not going to do anything stupid,” he promised her with a meaningful look at me. I nodded and backed another step away from Michael on my own. Bree let go of me and slipped her arms into Carl’s jacket, positioning it so she was covered.

“Now that that’s settled, where is Hunter?” Maester Wright demanded of Michael. Michael hung his head.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I came to being dragged through the woods by Hunter. Once I was awake he told me we needed to split up. He was covered in Adia’s blood and the vampires were tracking him. He said the blood was from healing her. He said I’d be safe if I went in the opposite direction.”

“So you left him?!” I demanded, tears in my eyes, though I didn’t know where they had come from or why. “You left him to the vampires?” Michael shook his head.

“It wasn’t like that!” Michael protested.

“Then what was it like?” I snarled at him, trying to pull anger to me instead of tears. Tears wouldn’t help Hunter. Anger, I could work with.

“Once I was awake and able to move on my own, he teleported me away from him. I don’t know how far. The only thing I could do was come back here. I don’t know where he went.” My heart dropped. Hunter had been low on magic when we split up earlier. He didn’t have the power to be teleporting people.

“We have to go find him!” I told the others firmly.

“You need to stay here,” Maester Wright protested. “You’re save here. Hunter risked himself to make sure you got back to safety.”

“The sun’s up! The vampires are back in hiding. Now’s when we have to go find him and help him.”

“You’re injured and it’s not safe for you to go traipsing through the woods looking for Hunter,” Maester Wright insisted. “You are staying here. I won’t hear any more on the subject. The rest of us will go out and look for Hunter. Sebastian, stay here with Ms. Kinkade and make sure she stays in the dorm.” I knew Sebastian wouldn’t disobey Maester Wright. I was stuck here, useless while they went to look for Hunter. They all left. Bree shifted back to wolf form to go with them. Sebastian looked over at me.

“You are not going to do anything stupid, like try to go after them, right?” he asked me. I shook my head and pointed to the chair I had occupied most of the night.

“I’m going to sit there and wait for them to come back,” I told him. He nodded, but didn’t move until I had taken my seat again. I stared out the window, waiting for any sign of Hunter’s return. I watched as the search parties headed off in all directions looking for him. Sebastian watched me for a little while before he took a seat and instantly fell asleep. The sun was draining to vampires, especially the older they were. I was sure he’d be awakened if I did anything stupid, but he had to be exhausted this far after sunrise. I also wouldn’t break his trust. Untainted vampires were holy among the vampires. They were like priests or holy men.

I fought against my own exhaustion to keep vigil and wait for Hunter’s return. It was late afternoon before there was any sign. That sign was a lone figure limping up to the dorm. “Hunter!” I exclaimed, jumping out of my chair. Sebastian was awake in the moment. “I know Maester Wright said not to leave the dorm, but you can see me the entire time,” I told Sebastian as I ran for the door. He followed me, but was hesitant to go out in the daylight.

“Do not get injured and make me go out there after you,” he told me firmly. He wouldn’t stop me from going out when Hunter was so close. He waited by the open door. He would come out after me if he had to, but he wouldn’t stop me from helping Hunter.

“Thank you,” I told him and ran out to go to Hunter. He looked shocked to see me. He was also obviously exhausted and injured. He was limping and bloody, bruised and scratched all over. I ran to him as fast as I could and hugged him, half holding him up once I reached him. I didn’t know where I found the strength, but I managed it. “Are you ok?” I asked him, concern and tears in my eyes. He nodded.

“I’ll be fine. Are you ok? Did Sebastian get you back safely?” I nodded and let him lean on me, one of his arms over my shoulders as we headed back to the dorm.

“Sebastian got us back fine. Michael came back just after dawn and the rest of the dorm went out looking for you.” I explained to him as we walked back to the dorm. It was a long walk, supporting his weight.

“You didn’t go to the healers’?” Hunter grumped at me. I shook my head, turning red.

“I-I had to wait for you to get back safely. It was my fault you were out there,” I reminded him.

“No, it was Michael’s fault I was out there. And he will pay for the pain he put us both through.” We made it in the dorm and I felt Hunter relax now that we were safe.

“You two should both go see the healers,” Sebastian told us. I nodded. I wanted Hunter to go to the healers. Hunter’s strength was giving out and I was having trouble supporting him. I looked over to Sebastian, pleading him without words to help me. He moved to Hunter’s other side, holding him up by an arm. “Move away, Princess, I do not wish to harm you,” I stepped away from Hunter, who protested as Sebastian lifted him and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of grain.

“I’m perfectly capable of walking,” Hunter told the vampire. Sebastian didn’t listed and headed down the hall.

“Come along, Princess. You need to see the healers as well,” I followed along behind him, watching Hunter’s face grow more and more red as he could do nothing to stop Sebastian from carrying him.

“What happened out there?” I asked Hunter. It distracted him some from his embarrassment. He sighed.

“Sebastian ran off with you and I headed in the other direction. I was covered in your blood from removing the glyph. It was enough to draw the vampires and they came after me, especially when they saw I was dragging something human sized. They assumed it was you. They wouldn’t give up chasing me, since they thought I had you, thanks to the blood and Michael. He finally came to and I teleported him closer to the dorm so he couldn’t cause anymore trouble. I tried to send him all the way back, but I didn’t have the magic left for that. I let the vampires get close enough to me to realize that I didn’t have you, but I couldn’t escape from them again fast enough to avoid their _questioning_ ” he made the word sound as horrible as I knew it was. “I fought off the ones holding me and ran for it. I got far enough away from them when the sun came up. I lost most of them at sunrise and spent the rest of the day sneaking my way back here.” He didn’t answer how he had gotten injured.

I realized that Sebastian was leading us up to Hunter’s rooms instead of to a healer. “Why are we up here?” I asked Sebastian as he opened Hunter’s dorm room with a master key from his pocket. He set Hunter down next to his bed.

“Lie down,” he told Hunter gruffly. Hunter didn’t bother arguing with the vampire. He climbed into bed as he was told. “The healers will be coming up here. Hunter will be more comfortable in his own bed. He’ll be even more tired after the healing,” Sebastian explained to me. He pointed to the end of Hunter’s bed. “Sit. They’ll be healing you too,” he told me. I obeyed his order, sitting tentatively on Hunter’s bed. I felt awkward sitting on his bed. I shouldn’t have. There was nothing going on, but it still felt strange. Sebastian pulled out Hunter’s desk chair and took a seat while we waited for the healers. It was only a moment before they appeared in the doorway.

The two women bustled in and got to work. I didn’t see what they did to Hunter, but they replaced the bandages on my arm, bandaging it more properly. I couldn’t look at the burnt mess my arm had become. The healers put a healing salve on it. They carefully bandaged it in clean bandages, bandaging my whole hand and my arm up to my elbow. They also gave me medication for the pain that I had been trying desperately to ignore while waiting for Hunter. They were able to completely heal Hunter with magic, since his injuries weren’t magic induced like mine were.

“Princess, you should go back to your own room,” Sebastian told me, once the healers were done with me. I shook my head. The effort made the room spin. I hadn’t realized how exhausted I already was on top of the injuries and drugs.

“I don’t want to be alone,” I protested drowsily. The drugs they gave me were strong. Sebastian sighed, looking me over and realizing how out of it I really was.

“And now you’re so drugged you can’t stand, which means you can’t make it to your own bed, and none of us can get you there without an express invitation.” It was getting harder and harder to keep my eyes open. We were safe. Hunter was healed and fast asleep. The healing had knocked him out. Sebastian sighed again. “Lie down before you fall down. Nothing is going to happen while you’re both in healing sleep.” He pushed Hunter over on the bed so there was plenty of room for me. “I shouldn’t be encouraging this...” Sebastian added, but he pushed me with a gloved hand so I fell over onto the soft bed. I mewed in protest, but was too exhausted and drugged to do anything about it. I barely even comprehended that I was in the same bed as Hunter. We were both lying down in the same bed. This should have frightened me, but instead it was a comfort. Sebastian covered me with a blanket and gave me a fond smile. “Heal. I will keep watch,” he told me as my eyes closed and I lost my fight to the drugs and sleep overtook me.


	21. Then

Things stayed like that for a couple months. Kieran decided to leave the castle for awhile to take a break from the hard work of ruling. He packed up his household and moved us above ground to a mansion in the human realm. It was secluded, well away from anyone and anything.

He made us spend the first few days cleaning the place from top to bottom. It seemed like it hadn’t been lived in in years. He was still being paranoid and wouldn’t let me out of his sight for more than a few moments. I still had to clean with everyone else, but it was harder on all of us that he kept checking on us where I was working.

It was hard adjusting to not having my voice. I kept trying to talk for the first couple of months. Every time I would snap my mouth closed again with tears in my eyes. I hadn’t chosen any of this. I kept wondering why he was so insistent that I not speak. It had to be important, and not just his preference. He didn’t do this to any of the rest of his slaves. It was just me.

After we had the mansion cleaned to his liking, he began to lose some of his paranoia. He let me wander the house without him, though threatened a horrible painful death if I so much as stepped a toe outside without his permission. We had no visitors those first few months. It was quiet and almost pleasant, at least when compared to life at the castle. We were also in the human world again and I could see sunlight for the first time in what felt like a year.

Life was still awful, but it was better than it had been. Sure, Kieran was still drinking my blood every day and mostly neglecting to feed us, but we were beaten less and he had fewer demands on me. I found myself spending more and more of my free time with Reem, avoiding Kieran as much as possible. Kieran seemed to stop caring what I was doing as long as I let him take my blood without protest. I dreaded the day we had to go back to court.

After I was sure Kieran was mostly leaving me alone, I got Reem to come up to the library with me to look through books, trying to figure out how to get my voice back. Most of the time Reem seemed to understand me, even without words, or written notes, or lame pantomime. It made him more comfortable to be around. He also didn’t have the same pity in his eyes as the other slaves. They realized they were more fortunate than I was. They could at least scream when they were beaten.

None of the books were helpful. The only way they seemed to indicate to get my voice back was for Kieran to give it back voluntarily or to break the container he was keeping it in. Neither of these situations was likely to happen, so we kept looking for another way.

One day, after we had been in the house for awhile, Kieran didn’t let me leave after his evening feeding of my blood. “Stay here,” he ordered. I bowed and waited for whatever was going to come next. I was used to the feeling of bloodloss by then. My 14th birthday had come and gone in Kieran’s service and with him taking my blood every day. “Healer!” He called. A young woman in Healer’s green robes came into the room. She was accompanied by one of the Untainted in his white robes. The girl looked small and scared. She was only a few years older than I was. She also wore the collar of a slave and had red hair. “Healer is one of my newest acquisitions,” Kieran explained to me. “It took me a long time to find a Healer with red hair.” He turned to Healer then. “I want a full physical examination of this girl. Pay special attention to her condition to breed.” He instructed Healer. She bowed. I felt myself blanch.

 _Breed? I can’t breed, I can’t have_ children  _I’m only 14._ I thought, horrified. There was no way I was ok with having sex, much less having babies.

“Yes, master,” she replied meekly. She and the Untainted went to my ‘bedroom’ which was really a walk-in closet connected to Kieran’s room with a blanket on the floor for me to sleep under.

Kieran turned to me. “You are going to breed as soon as the Healer clears you to. I need your bloodline to continue so I can continue to rule. You may have your voice back for the afternoon. Answer all of Healer’s questions truthfully. I will know if you do not and the beating will be severe.” I nodded my understanding. He touched the glass orb that held my voice. It glowed for a moment and then it was empty, my voice was back. I kept my mouth firmly shut, though I wanted to scream with relief. I wanted even more to prove to him that I could be quiet without him stealing my voice. I didn’t want him to steal it again. He pointed at the closet where I slept. “Go, and cooperate with Healer,” he ordered. I bowed again and silently did as I was bid. He gave us a semblance of privacy.

The exam wasn’t any worse than a normal doctor’s exam, though Healer did go into way more detail about feminine issues than any doctor I’d ever had previously. I tried to plead with her without saying anything to tell Kieran that I wasn’t fit to breed, that I wasn’t capable or at least that my body wasn’t ready. I couldn’t say that though, I had a feeling Kieran was listening to everything that was said. She gave me a small nod though. She had understood my message. She left the closet to go give her report to Kieran.

“Well?” He demanded.

“Master, she is not yet ready to bear children. She is too weak and her monthly bleeding is not regular. She would most likely die in the attempt. My recommendation is to wait at least a year, preferably two before revisiting the issue,” she told him firmly. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was saved, for now anyway. Kieran snarled and growled.

“All of you, get out!” he raged. The three of us left his suites as fast as we could.

“Thank you,” I whispered to Healer. My voice was hoarse, having not used it in ages. She nodded.

“My words were true, or he would not have spared you,” she replied quickly before she headed back to wherever she was supposed to be.

Kieran had forgotten to take my voice away again in his rage. I headed downstairs in a great mood and went to find Reem to tell him my great news, at least great news for now. I skipped down the stairs, away from Kieran’s rage and anger. His rage would come back for me later, but I enjoyed the moment I could live without it.

Things changed when the doorbell rang. I was the closest to the door and the safest. Kieran wouldn’t risk beating me enough to kill me when he still needed me to keep his ability to rule. So I was the one who went to the door and opened it. I couldn’t believe what was waiting on the other side:

Michael


	22. Now

I don’t know how long I was out. I woke to arguing and shouting. The raised voices drew me instantly out of my dreams. I was still groggy, but four years of hell as a vampire’s slave had trained my body to wake when there were loud noises. It had saved me from a beating more than once, and led to beatings before I had learned that lesson.

I had somehow moved in my sleep. I was laying curled up against Hunter’s warm side. I was still on the side of the bed closest to the wall, where I had fallen asleep. My wolf ears and tail were out. My head was laying on his chest, using him as a pillow and he had his arm wrapped around me, keeping me safe. He was between me and the door. I felt safe and warm for a moment and almost dozed back off in my drug haze.

Then the yelling started again. I lifted my head from Hunter’s chest and looked up to assess the situation. Sebastian and Maester Wright were standing outside of Hunter’s room, yelling at each other. Hunter’s eyes snapped open when I had moved. He was on his feet in an instant, a knife in his hand. I don’t know where he got the knife, but I felt safer for him having it. I could tell that he wasn’t completely back up to strength. He had awoken early at the sounds of the fight. I moved to follow him and get to my feet. He shook his head.

/Let me check what’s going on first/ I was still injured, so I agreed with his suggestion and sat back on the bed. My arm was starting to hurt again. The pain drugs were wearing off some, at least when it came to pain management, not when it came to clear thinking and the ability to not feel woozy, or stand on my own two feet.

“Nothing was happening!” Sebastian yelled at Maester Wright.

“How could you let them sleep in the same bed?” Came the angry reply. “It’s bad enough she’s staying in the boys’ dorm. We can’t let word get out that she’s sleeping with one of the boys in the dorm!”

“It was the best option and I was here as guard and chaperone. Nothing happened. They were both safe and healing, and might I add, unconscious?” Sebastian growled.

“The school will be shut down if any of this gets out,” Maester Wright replied.

Hunter had made his way to the door without either of them noticing. “Nothing happened, Maester,” he interjected. “The healers saw us up here. That is it.” Maester Wright glared in reply at this.

“You should know better than to put yourself and this establishment in such a compromising situation. Professor Rickman had a point. Ms Kinkade can’t stay here any longer.” He looked past Hunter and saw that I was awake. “Good, you’re awake. I have made arrangements for your new accommodations. You will move there immediately.” I felt him take the shields down on what had been my room. “I don’t mean to sound like a hard-ass, or like I’m uncaring. I do care. We have to appease the schoolboard and vampire hunter’s council on some things so they don’t try to send Ms Kinkade away from this school entirely. They are old fashioned and wouldn’t understand. We need to cause as little trouble as possible, cause as few waves so we don’t draw attention to ourselves.” Hunter relaxed and dropped his knife.

“I’m still not happy about Adi not being in our protection,” he protested. Maester Wright smiled at him with a glint in his eye.

“I said no such thing about Ms Kinkade no longer being under as much protection as we can possibly give her,” he smiled. “As you probably are not aware, there is a house on campus where students who do not fit in well to the traditional dorms can be housed. We haven’t had need to use it in a few years. The last case was a severely autistic boy who thrived in a situation where he could live more on his own. It’s halfway between the two dorms and is capable of holding as many, or as few, students as needed. That is where Ms Kinkade, yourself, Mr Carl Falen, Ms Paige McGowan, our Friends from the unicorn kingdom, and Sebastian will all be living.” Maester Wright explained. I smiled and Hunter’s body language seemed to relax as well. “That house is allowed to be coed so it will be safe for everyone for you all to be there. Ms Kinkade, will you please come out here?”

I stood, though my legs were wobbly and I was extremely unsteady on my feet. I was in pain from the glyph removal still and starting to feel like I might throw up from the pain it was getting so bad again. Hunter came back over to me and helped me to the doorway. I smiled at him and nodded my thanks, leaning against him and letting him take most of my body weight.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you back to bed soon. We can’t heal the wound on your arm, it was created by powerful black magic, but we can at least give you something for the pain. First, I need to have the boys and professors see you move into your new rooms.”

“She can barely stand. There’s no way she can make a walk with all of her stuff halfway across campus!” Hunter protested. “She’s in no state.” I agreed with him on this point. I was barely standing. Maester Wright nodded.

“I am aware of that,” Maester Wright said dryly. With a rush of power, all of the possessions from Hunter’s room vanished. “I have moved all of your things to your new rooms. He conjured some empty cardboard boxes and then moved over to me. He touched my forehead before anyone could protest. I felt power and strength run through me and the pain disappeared. “I have strengthened you long enough for your walk to the new dorm. Have everyone carry a box, make as much noise and draw as much attention to yourselves moving as possible. I want them to know you are there.” He turned his attention to me and made sure he caught my gaze. “The second you get there, get to bed. The strength will _not_ stay long and you will be much more drained afterwards. I hate to do this, but it’s necessary to get the council off of our backs.”

I wasn’t looking forward to this. It sounded horrible. I didn’t want to be weak and basically incapacitated after this. I knew there was no choice. Maester Wright had already set the magic. We gathered up our boxes and the procession began. Somehow Carl and the others also knew the plan, as they were talking loudly downstairs when we arrived. They were all drawing attention to us, to our move. Hunter and I joined them. Without a word, they moved to keep me in the middle of the procession, so I was guarded on all sides. It was pointless, as it was daylight still and no one attacked us.

We made it to the new house and dropped our empty boxes. They disappeared once we were inside. Sebastian was waiting for us. He had beaten us here. I felt my strength waning, but I fought against it anyway. Sebastian gave us a tour of the house. It was a big house a full kitchen, dining room, living room and chaperones’ (the two adult unicorns and Sebastian would be acting as chaperone/house mothers) rooms on the first floor. There were two staircases up to the second floor leading up to the bedrooms. One was for the girls and one for the boys. It was supposed to keep us separate.

My strength was draining even more quickly and the pain was coming back in full force. I didn’t want to admit my weakness. Hunter looked at me and moved closer to my side. “You’re pale and about to fall over. You should go to bed,” he told me gently, wrapping an arm around me to make sure I wouldn’t fall. “Maester Wright sent a potion to help with the pain.”

/I don’t want to be alone/I admitted to Hunter. My mental voice sounded weak and scared, even to me. I was sure that Hunter would notice. I didn’t want him to leave me, but there was no way for him to stay now.

“I know,” Hunter replied. “I’ll walk you up to your room and make sure you’re safe and Bree will stay with you, ok?” he asked me gently. I nodded.

“Thank you,” I rasped. My voice was still off from the memories I had regained recently, and the hell it had been through earlier when I screamed so hard it had gone hoarse and when Hunter had taken it for our safety. Sebastian looked like he might protest for a moment, then shrugged and went to his own room.

Hunter helped me up the stairs, eventually just lifting me into his arms once my strength had gone. He carried me to my room, which was all set up exactly as I had left my previous room. I didn’t need to grant him special permission to enter my new room. I didn’t mind in Hunter’s case. He laid me in bed and tucked the covers in around me, offering me way more care than I deserved. He handed me a glass of red liquid. “It’s Maester Wright’s potion. I’m sure it tastes nasty, so drink it quickly. It’ll help with the pain,” he told me. I made a face at him, but I took the glass and drank its contents as quickly as possible. It was horrible and I almost couldn’t swallow it. I managed it, though, and the healing flowed through me, numbing the pain. I laid back on the pillows with Bree curled up with her head on my feet. Hunter sat in my desk chair, telling me stories until I fell asleep.

I thought I felt him kiss my forehead, but I was so out of it I couldn’t be sure if it was real or imagined.

It made me happy regardless.


	23. Then

I stared in shock at Michael. It felt like my two worlds had collided. Michael didn’t belong in my life anymore. I had left him behind to save him. I just stared, I couldn’t do anything I was in so much shock. I felt my hybrid form melt away as I stared at my childhood friend. His eyes widened and I could see the shock and awe on his face.

He broke the silence. “Adia? I can’t believe I finally found you. I’ve been looking for you since you left.” He looked as shocked as I felt. “I hadn’t expected to ever find you again.” I couldn’t believe I was seeing him again. I couldn’t believe he had come for me.

“H-how?” I started to ask him. He shook his head and held his hand out to me. “Hurry! We have to get out of here.” I hesitated a moment too long. He reached out and grabbed my wrist. “Come on!” he insisted. He dragged me through the door and down the path in front of the house, headless of the pain the rough ground caused my bare feet. I tried to keep up with him, but I was stumbling along behind him as he ran.

My body seemed to weaken the further we got from the house. The glyph on my hand was glowing brighter and brighter, even though the sun was out. “Hurry!” Michael insisted, trying to run faster. I tried to run faster. I was still shocked and confused. I was out of breath and panting and we still hadn’t made it to the main road.

We weren’t going to make it to the road.

Before we knew what had happened, we were surrounded by vampires. “I thought they couldn’t go out during the day,” Michael muttered. He dropped my hand and pulled a sharpened wooden stick from his pocket. Most of the vampires started laughing. Kieran grabbed me by the metal collar, grabbing it at the back of my neck.

“Bring him,” he ordered the other vampires. He started back to the house, dragging me backwards behind him. I fell immediately. I tried to struggle back to my feet, but he was dragging me on purpose. I had to watch as the vampires marched Michael back to the house, following behind Kieran and myself. I was struggling to breathe as Kieran dragged me by the metal collar around my neck. I was soon covered in cuts and bruises.

Kieran only stopped when we were in his formal sitting room. He threw me down by his chair. I stayed where he threw me, cowering back and trying to be as nonthreatening and unobserved as possible. If I was invisible, he wouldn’t beat me. I hadn’t asked for any of this to happen. Yes, I’d wanted to escape, but I hadn’t asked Michael to come save me. I had come here to save him. Kieran had promised his and Paige’s safety if I went with him. Was that nullified now that Michael had come to try to save me? The other half of me was terrified Kieran would hurt me for Michael trying to rescue me.

I cowered beside Kieran’s chair, terrified both for myself and for Michael. I was also terribly embarrassed that Michael was seeing me like this. I was a wraith of who I had been. Two of the other vampires dragged Michael in to the room. The forced him to kneel in front of Kieran and held him there, despite Michael’s struggles. Michael was just a human teenage boy. There was no way he could stand up to vampires. I worried for his safety once he was brought in. I should have been more worried for my own.

Kieran motioned for me to present myself in front of him. I moved in one fluid motion to kneel in front of him in hybrid form, my wrists held out to him in offering. “Adi, don’t!” Michael protested. One of the vampires hit him and he was silent.

“You do not understand, boy, she is my slave. I can do with her as I please,” Kieran told Michael. He turned his attention to me. “Answer truthfully and you may avoid additional pain.”

“Yes, master,” I answer in acknowledgement, not risking raising my eyes or my head.

“Do you know this boy?”

“Yes, master.” I wouldn’t tell lies now. Lies wouldn’t help either of us.

“Explain.” Kieran snarled at me.

“I knew him before I entered your service, master,” I explained. I was trying to be careful with my answers, but honest at the same time. I didn’t want to cause any more pain for either myself or Michael.

“Did you invite him here?”

“No, master,”

“Did you know he was coming?”

“No, master,”

“Did you agree to leave with him?”

“No, master.” He kept asking me questions along these lines until he was satisfied with my answer.

“Good,” he finally told me. I risked looking up, hoping that I had avoided a beating. He moved swiftly and knelt down beside me. “But I must ensure that you will not wander off again,” he told me softly. He grabbed my right leg out from under me, toppling me over. I made a yelp of surprise when he did. I didn’t have time to wonder why he toppled me over. He held my ankle and foot in his hands gently, like he was going to give me a massage. I didn’t think that was his aim. I wasn’t wrong. With a muttered word and a surge of magic, and some screams from me, he shattered the bones in my ankle and foot. After my first shriek of pain, he had stolen my voice back into the glass orb around his neck. He tossed me back in the corner next to his chair like a discarded toy. I sobbed silently over the pain.

“Adia!” Michael yelled, trying to get to his feet, trying to rush over to help me.

“Now, what to do with you?” Kieran mused, looking over Michael. “I spared your life once. Maybe I should put you in my service for awhile.” I snapped my attention back to Michael. I had saved him once, I couldn’t let him be hurt now.

I tried to yell, but my voice was gone. I threw strength toward him, hoping that I had some kind of magic that would help. I obviously had enough magic to shapeshift. /Please, save him!/I threw the thought out to any deity that might be listening. I had to do something, anything to save Michael from the same fate I was in. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

Power rushed from me and circled around Michael. He disappeared a moment later. I felt exhausted and somehow knew the power had come from me. I also knew that Michael was safe, wherever he had disappeared to. Kieran turned on me and slapped me hard across the face. “Stupid bitch!” he snarled. I flinched back away from him. “You lost me a new slave,” he growled. He slapped me again and I saw stars. I knew bruises were going to appear quickly.

Kieran turned to the other vampires. “We are moving back to the castle, immediately. This house is no longer safe from vampire hunters. Notify the slaves. Have everything moved immediately.” Kieran grabbed my collar again and dragged me to my feet. I shrieked and screamed, but no sound came out. Tears were streaming down my face as he made me walk on my shattered foot.

He stopped in the foyer, where some of the slaves and vampires were gathering. “Adrian, take Healer back to the castle immediately. Do not let her out of your sight and protect her at all costs.” The Untainted vampire from earlier bowed, accepting his instructions and escorted Healer outside. Healers were always valued and protected, even among the vampires. “The rest of you, pack up the household. We are moving back to the castle.” Kieran summoned another Untainted Vampire. I was surprised at that. Untainted vampires were extremely rare and holy to the vampires. Kieran was treating them as servants. “Mathias,” he addressed the new Untainted. “Take this,” he threw me to the ground at Mathias’ feet. “To the castle now. Do not let it out of your sight. Lock it in one of the cells and stay with it. I will deal with it later.” Mathias bowed and scooped me up into his arms, cradling me like a child. He was covered from head to toe in white robes and wasn’t risking touching me with bare skin.

I blacked out while we were traveling back to the castle. I don’t even remember how we traveled. I came to when Mathias was laying me on the bed in one of the cells. He had picked the nicest one he could find and gave me a wink. He had to follow Kieran’s orders, but Kieran had only told him to put me in a cell. He didn’t specify the quality of the cell. It was more of a bedroom than a cell, featuring a nice soft bed and even a separate room for the bathroom. Mathias used some first aid skills to set the bones Kieran had broken, but that was all he could do. I cried silently, sobbing with pain at how much it hurt. My face was also swollen and bruised from Kieran’s blows. “You won’t be walking for a long time, little princess,” Mathias told me sadly. He sat outside my cell and told me stories about my parents, trying to distract me from the pain. It didn’t work, but I enjoyed listening to stories about how kind and fair my mother was and how much better things were under her rule.

I don’t know how long he told me stories. I dozed on and off throughout when exhaustion overruled the pain I felt. I was also in a soft bed for the first time in over a year. I hoped Mathias wouldn’t get in trouble for helping me. I knew he would, but I didn’t think he would get into too much trouble. Untainted were holy after all.


	24. Now

It was light out when I woke again. I realized I had slept through the night. I didn’t feel very well rested, though. I felt confused and still in shock that my two worlds had collided in my dreams. I had to find Michael and find out if what I remembered was true. I also still wanted to punch Michael in the face for what he did to me the other day. I thought over my options and came to the conclusion that my best option was to find Hunter. He would get me a safe meeting with Michael. Safe for Michael, that is.

I got out of bed to go on my hunt for Hunter. I wasn’t sure where to find him in this new house. Bree hopped down from my bed. “Any idea where Hunter is?” I asked her softly. It was an effort to even speak in a whisper. I was beginning to get annoyed with these memory dreams leaking over into the real world. Bree took a couple of sniffs and barked. I smiled. “Lead on,” I told her as I limped over to the door to open it for her. Stupid memory dream, making my ankle and foot hurt. At least they weren’t actually broken in real life.

Bree led me down the hall to the boys’ rooms. There was a door I hadn’t noticed before at the divide between the two sections of bedrooms. I opened the door and saw a study room. It was perfect and I smiled at it. It was a living room with squashy armchairs, a couple couches, desks, walls lined with bookshelves, a fireplace and even a TV. It was somewhere to hang out on the second floor of the house, and it was in the most protected part of the house. It was perfect and finally felt like someplace that was _home_.

Hunter was lounging in one of the armchairs, reading a book. He looked up when Bree and I came in to the room. He even smiled when he saw that it was me. He set his book down and stood as I limped further into the room towards him. His expression changed almost immediately from happy to see me to concerned. I shook my head, I was ok. He still came to meet me and wrapped an arm around my waist so he could help support me. “Are you ok?” he asked. I nodded.

“Memory dream,” I explained as simply as possible. My voice was hoarse and my throat hurt. I didn’t really want to waste words at this point. We picked a couch to settle on.

“Do you want to show me?” I nodded, shifting on the couch so I was facing him.

/That’s easier than explaining/I told him. He nodded and held out a hand. I took it nervously, feeling a strange fluttering in my stomach at reaching out to him and initiating contact. I placed my hand in his warm callused one and opened myself, initiating the mental contact. I pulled up the memories on my own and sent them to him, using my own magic and ability to do so. I could sense his pride that I had done it on my own. He shielded me from having to relive the memories again as he watched them. I was grateful for that, and for his consideration.

“Michael found you?” Hunter asked once he was done and the connection was broken.

“I think so? That’s what my memories are saying anyway. I want to find out if it’s true.” I told him. This is why I had come to find Hunter in the first place. Hunter’s hand clenched in a fist. “I want to punch him too, but we need to talk to him.” I reminded Hunter.

“I know, but I really want to punch that jerk. He caused you even more pain,” Hunter indicated my still bandaged arm. “Speaking of, one of the healers wants to see you to change the bandage. She wanted to know when you were awake.” He turned to Bree. “Can you go get her?” Bree barked once and bounded off. “Michael can meet us in the formal living room downstairs. Sebastian will be there and won’t put up with any of Michael’s shit. It’s the safest plan for all of us, and I _don’t_ want him up here,” I nodded my agreement.

“It feels like home up here,” I told him, lost in the moment, in the serenity of being surrounded in such a safe, homey environment. With Hunter. He didn’t take away from the feeling of home here. He might’ve even...added...to it.

He seemed to think for a moment, then conjured a Jenga set. My eyes widened and I grinned. “Wanna play?” He asked. I nodded excitedly and knelt down next to the coffee table in front of the couch so we could play. He set up the game and we got started. I hadn’t played any game in years and it was so much fun. I jumped when the first stack fell, but erupted into giggles at Hunter swearing at the tower for falling on his turn. We rebuilt the stack and started over. It felt so nice to take a break from vampires and my real life to spend a morning just being a normal teenager.

Bree led the healer into the room after we had made it through a couple of games of Jenga. She ran over and knocked the tower down with her tail in her enthusiastic attempts to give me puppy kisses. “Bree!” I shrieked with giggles as I fought off her attempts to lick my face. “You’re a werewolf, not a puppy!” I protested. I finally extricated myself from the licky werewolf and settled myself back on the couch. The healer was smiling and seemed to be trying not to laugh at us. I didn’t blame her.

“May I see your arm?” She asked politely, acting as though she hadn’t just watched me get tackled and licked by a werewolf. I held my arm out to her, giving permission. She unwrapped the bandage and I had to look away. It looked like it hadn’t healed any, even with magical help. I couldn’t stomach the sight of such deep angry ugly burns. She put more healing salve on it and rebandaged it. She gave me more pills for the pain as well. I hesitated in taking them. I didn’t want to be knocked out again. “They’ll help,” she promised.

“You should take them,” Hunter insisted. “You don’t need to be in pain and we’re not meeting with Michael until at least the sun goes down and Sebastian wakes up.” I took the pills, the pain relief winning out. The healer left us and we were alone again while Bree walked the healer back. Healers weren’t left undefended even around the humans. Hunter smiled at me. He had finished cleaning up the Jenga game and put it away. He moved over to the TV. “Want to watch a movie?” He asked. I nodded, wanting to continue my normal day. He set up a Disney movie. It was one of the old ones that I remembered from when I was a child.

He came back to the couch and sat down with me. He was close enough to be comfortable, but not so close that he was pushing himself on me. I appreciated it, but it was hard on me to make the first move. I realized with that thought, though, that I wanted to make the first move. I wanted there to be moves. I hadn’t thought I’d ever felt like that. I moved ever so closer to him on the couch. He pretended not to notice. I did noticed that his arm closest to me was on top of the couch. I recognized the invitation and I couldn’t help smiling. Before the movie got truly started, I was curled up against Hunter with my head on his chest and his arm around me. He had covered me with a blanket so I wouldn’t get chilled. The pills had taken my pain away. I was groggy, but comfortable, safe, and warm. There wasn’t anything I needed to do at the moment but enjoy the Disney movie and Hunter’s company. There seemed to be a bubble of happiness around myself and Hunter and I didn’t want it to burst.

“You’re safe. You don’t have to force yourself to stay awake,” Hunter whispered. “I’ll still be here when you wake,”

“I haven’t seen this movie in years,” I protested sleepily. He chuckled and let me watch, curled save and comfortable in his arms.


	25. Then

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is horrific and brutal. TW: non-con/rape

The next year under Kieran’s ‘care’ was hell. Pure and simple, it was hell. Sure, I was fed better, but I was treated worse. Kieran said he felt my original training and been too light handed, since he had been in a rush before the coronation. He focused his efforts on humiliating me as much and as often as possible.

I was getting better at magic, though I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing at the time. It was the only way my mind survived. I figured out how to make a shield around my mind, around the core of my _self_. I could hide behind that shield when he was trying to humiliate me and I didn’t have to experience whatever he was doing to my body.

For awhile he made me crawl everywhere.

For over a month he wouldn’t allow me a stitch of clothing. One night during that horrid month he had me tied between two pillars and whipped for some minor affront to him. I think I hadn’t cleaned something to his specifications. He left me like that, covered in blood, while he conducted court from a few feet away. He made me watch while the vampires stared at me hungrily, eyeing me like their next dinner. That experience was so terrifying, I couldn’t hide behind my shield during it. I was helpless, with no voice, surrounded by hungry vampires while they smelled my blood.

He had Healer inspect me every month to see if I was able to breed.

Even though I was fed better, he made me work so much harder. I was constantly scrubbing and cleaning something. I still had to attend almost every court function and was beaten when I fell asleep during boring court proceedings due to pure exhaustion. Kieran had Mathias supervise me when he was busy. Only Mathias was trusted with this task, as he couldn’t physically touch me.

My life was full of constant humiliation, beatings, and work. I didn’t know what Kieran was going to do on any given day and I soon found that my entire focus had turned to pleasing him. Whenever I was with him, the entirety of my being was on him and keeping him happy so he wouldn’t hurt me, or humiliate me worse.

Most mornings I found myself crying in Reem’s arms. He was the only bright spot of my life during that time. He never complained about me crawling into his bed in the morning to cry, to just sleep somewhere safe. I couldn’t rant or scream, but Kieran hadn’t removed my ability to cry. He left me human enough for that. Reem was warm and safe and never turned me away. He called me ‘princess’ and seemed to actually care about me. At first he was like my older brother, but he started to feel like more over the course of that year.

Things got worse on my 16th birthday, when Healer announced to Kieran that I was capable of successfully carrying a child to term. I was horrified by the news, but I had known that she couldn’t save me forever. This was the thing I had been fearing since Kieran had first brought it up over a year ago. “Good,” he purred. He shoved me at Mathias.

“Take her to my chambers and make sure she stays there until I come for her.” Mathias had caught me. He was carefully covered from head to toe so he couldn’t accidentally touch me. He led me to Kieran’s chambers. I was too shocked and horrified to go there on my own. At least Kieran had given up on the crawling everywhere thing. I never would have made it.

“Be brave, Princess. It will be over shortly.” Mathias told me once we were alone in Kieran’s bedchamber.

 _I can’t! He can’t make me! I can’t_ I thought the protests, but couldn’t voice them. I wasn’t ready for this. I had no desire to have sex. I had even less desire to be a mother. Mathias shook me, both gloved hands on my shoulders.

“You can. You must and you will.” He told me. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. He had been with me for almost a year, a constant shadow. He always called me ‘princess’, always reminded me of who I was supposed to be and what I would have been had things turned out differently. “It will not be pleasant. I will not lie to you. However, nothing will come of it. Most vampires cannot have children. Your parents were special, though Kieran will not know that. Do not tell him, but you will not have to bear mothering his child. Be strong, my princess. We will care for you after, but you must bear this pain now.” I nodded. I still wanted to cry and deny it, but there was no help for it.

Mathias stayed with me until Kieran came. He was ordered to leave then, and even the Untainted couldn’t resist the orders that came from royal blood. Kieran picked me up and tossed me onto is bed. I didn’t fight him, didn’t resist him. I knew that it would be a million times worse for me if I did.

He didn’t kiss me, didn’t try to make it pleasant for me at all. I was a bit grateful for that. I had expected it to be horrible. I didn’t have to feel conflicted about him being gentle or kind. He violated me. That’s the only word for it. I hadn’t consented. I didn’t want it. It was just another thing I had to put up with from him. It hurt like hell and there was so much blood, but Mathias was right, and it was over quickly.

Healer cleaned me up afterwards and I went to Reem to cry myself to sleep. Reem held me and comforted me. He let me cry myself out, whispering promises that everything would be ok. I knew, though, that nothing would be the same after that.


	26. Now

“Adi, it’s ok!” I heard Hunter’s voice. “I’m here for you.” I opened my eyes and looked up at him through the tears.

“Did you see?” I asked him, my voice breaking with the pain of the memories I had just endured. He nodded.

“You were sharing,” he told me softly. I nodded. I didn’t remember actively sharing with him, but I had been asleep. I trusted that he wouldn’t pry, and would only have watched those memories if he had been invited. “What do you need?” he asked me. I couldn’t articulate it in words. I just moved to climb into his lap. He let me and wrapped the blanket and his arms around me. He rubbed my back while I cried. “You never have to do that again,” he promised me. “You’re free and your body is yours.” His words were reassuring and eventually allowed me to stop crying once I had repeated them enough times in my own head.

“I’m sorry!” I made a small eep noise and clambered off of his lap. He smiled reassuringly at me.

“Nothing to be sorry for. I would have stopped you if I objected.” He reminded me. “You’ve been through a lot of hardship, way more than anyone should ever have to deal with. You’re also at least part shapeshifter. It’s natural for shapeshifters to seek physical contact and comfort when they are distressed.” His words were comforting and I relaxed. I was still feeling out of sorts trying to process the memories. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked me gently. I shook my head.

“Not yet,” I told him shakily. He nodded.

“How about we go find something to eat?” he suggested. I nodded enthusiastically. Food was always an acceptable option. “Sun’s out, want to go out for lunch?” I nodded again. He chuckled. “Well, go freshen up. I’ll meet you downstairs.” I nodded and jumped up off the couch, excited to get out a be a real person. I heard Hunter chuckling as I rushed back to my own room.

We weren’t going to class, or any official function, so I didn’t have to wear my uniform. That left me with the dilemma of what to wear. I didn’t even know how to start. I stared forlornly in my closet, wondering where all of these clothes had come from and trying to figure out how to pick one of them to wear. This wasn’t a problem I’d had in over four years. Even though it was a problem, I savored it anyway. I decided that I didn’t care what people thought when I was out among the public. I wanted to be me. Hunter had already seen me at my best and at my worst. He wasn’t going to change his opinion of me just because of what I chose to wear. I finally chose a blue knee length sundress and sandals. I pulled a brush through my hair and chanced a look in the mirror. I felt pretty, even though my healing wounds were clearly visible, including the ring around my neck where the collar had lain for four years. I ignored that though and found a purse at the bottom of my closet. I didn’t have anything to put in it except my newly acquired cell phone and the keys for the house and my room.

I realized that this almost felt like...a date.

I’d never been on a date before. Even if this wasn’t the real thing, it was exciting for me. I headed for the stairs excitedly, once I was ready. Bree had come back and whined at me, confused, at the top of the stairs. “I’m going out for lunch with Hunter,” I told her. “We’ll be fine," I added. “You can stay here.” She barked once and went back in her own room. I bounded down the stairs excitedly. Hunter was waiting for me at the bottom. He smiled up at me, and I thought I saw a hint of a blush.

“Ready?” He asked. I nodded. He gestured toward the door and we headed out into the sunlight. I grinned and basked in the sunlight for a moment before we headed out properly. Hunter was patient with me and didn’t comment on my need to bask before we could leave properly. “This way,” he said once I was ready to move on. He walked next to me, and I noticed he left the hand closest to me free.

“Where are we going?” I asked him, curiously.

“A place off campus,” he replied. We walked to the side of the house where there was a small parking lot. He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and opened the passenger door of a small silver car for me. I thanked him as he closed the door for me and headed over to the driver’s side.

“This is yours?” I asked in awe. Owning a whole car seemed outrageous and unbelievable.

“It’s mine, but my parents bought it,” he explained. He drove us off campus to a restaurant that proclaimed to sell gourmet burgers.

“I don’t remember this place,” I told him. I hadn’t been out to eat in over four years.

“It’s a fairly new chain,” he explained as he found a parking spot. He jumped out of the car and got to my car door before I could open it. I gave him a shyer smile this time. I wasn’t used to this kind of treatment. He didn’t force physical contact on me, though he made it clear with his actions that I could hold his hand if I wanted to. He held the door to the restaurant open for me. I entered the restaurant shyly. I took Hunter’s hand when he followed me in, overwhelmed at how many people were here. He smiled gently. I nodded and we headed in to the restaurant.

“Hello!” Greeted the overly enthusiastic hostess. “Just the two of you?” she asked. Hunter agreed and she led us over to a booth. Hunter let me pick a side and she passed us menus. Hunter ordered drinks for us, and I was grateful for that. I wasn’t quite up to a decision yet, and they expected one so quickly.

“Hope you don’t mind me ordering for you,” he said when she had left. I nodded.

“Not at all. Thank you.” He nodded and I looked over the menu. There were a lot of choices, and I picked something that I would’ve liked four years ago. I figured my tastes wouldn’t have changed too much. I enjoyed my lunch and the time spent with Hunter. He could tell I wasn’t ready to go back to the house after lunch, though, and took me to a mall. We wandered for awhile and Hunter let me stare at everything that piqued my interest. He even tried to show patience when we found a bookstore.

“I’m four years behind on my favorite series,” I whined at him, staring at all of the books I had missed in the last four years. He sighed with mock exasperation.

“Am I going to have to buy you the whole store?” he groaned at me. I blushed and shook my head. I didn’t have any money. I hadn’t protested at him buying lunch, since he had offered to take me out, but I couldn’t just let him buy me more things. He grabbed one of the books I had been eyeing. It was the next book in my favorite series. I eeped and tried to protest, but he shook off my protests. “I want to buy it for you,” he said firmly. He bought the book while I was still trying to protest at him.

“I can’t pay you back!” I insisted. He smiled anyway and handed me the bag with the book in it.

“That’s fine, since it’s a present,” he reminded me. “When one receives a present, one usually replies with ‘thank you’,” he added with a smile.

I blushed, but managed a soft ‘thank you’, holding the book to my chest with a smile, knowing I would treasure it. I bounced up on my toes and kissed his cheek. It seemed appropriate at the time, and was exactly what I had wanted to do.

I felt myself turn deep red. I turned away from him and walked a few steps toward where the car was parked, embarrassed by making such a forward move. Hunter caught up with me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “So what’s the book about?” he asked. I could see that he was a bit red too. I smiled up at him and began telling him about the series. It was only when he started asking what I felt about certain characters that I realized he had already read the series. He smiled mischievously when he realized I had caught on. He drove us back to the house and walked inside with me.

He walked me back up to my room. “I have to meet with Maester Wright,” he said as we were walking upstairs. “Will you be ok here with Bree?” he asked. I nodded. I was planning on reading my book anyway. “I’ll be back before the meeting with Michael later. Sebastian is sleeping downstairs; if you need anything he’ll help you.” I nodded again.

“I’ll be fine, Hunter. I won’t even be alone in the house,” I reminded him.

“I know, but I can still worry.”

“My big plans until the meeting are staying in my room reading my new book,” I reminded him. He smiled, since I was still holding the new book tightly, as though it was precious to me.

“Text me or call me if you need me,” he insisted. I nodded.

“I will.”

He was about to turn to leave, but stopped. He seemed to gather his courage. He slowly leaned down me and stopped when his lips were a breath away from mine. He hesitated then, gauging my reaction. /I won’t push you. If you don’t want this of if you’re not ready.../ I heard his thoughts and knew that he was being completely honest. It was hard to lie via thoughts. He wouldn’t push, wouldn’t press. He would step back if I needed him to, or if I wanted him to. I fought back horrible memories of Kieran, who never cared about me and just took what he wanted for himself. I wanted this. I wanted happiness. I wanted this experience. The experience of an amazing first kiss after a perfect first date. I was comfortable with Hunter. No it was more than that. I liked him. No, that wasn’t right either. I didn’t _just_ like him. Was this love? Or at least the seeds of love?

/I want this/I told him. He leaned in and I closed my eyes. His lips were soft against mine. It was just a kiss, a chaste kiss, but it felt magical all the same. It ended in a moment, and left me wanting more. More would happen, but not now. Now, I was basking in the glow of my first real kiss. I smiled up at him and I saw the smile reach his eyes.

“I’ll be back in time for the meeting later,” he promised. He headed back down the hall to go meet with Maester Wright. I opened the door to my room, still glowing in the perfect kiss.


	27. Then

My life over the next few months was more hell, though it did take a pattern, so I could at least anticipate the hell I would experience. Every evening, Kieran would feed on me, force himself on me to try to have a child, then discard me for the day and whatever chores he felt like I needed to do. I spent a lot of time crying in Reem’s arms during that time. He held me and comforted me and tried to show me what true caring was.

After a couple months, Reem kissed me. When Kieran didn’t have him beaten for it, he began to show me more, more kisses, more pleasure, more happiness, more caring opening my world to the pleasure that could come between a man and a woman, and not just the pain Kieran was showing me.

Months and months passed. I noticed that all of the males who weren’t vampires were throwing themselves at me, as if I was the court slut. I didn’t want any of them. Reem was the only one I wanted, he was the only one who was truly nice to me. I didn’t understand why they were all throwing themselves at me until I overheard a conversation in the hallway.

“King Kieran is determined to breed the girl. Someone finally broke the news to him that vampires can’t procreate,” a male vampire said in a hushed confidential tone.

“But the previous king and queen-” a female vampire protested. The male cut her off.

“Made a deal with the fae. That was how they had a child. It wasn’t their own doing,”

The other males must have felt that Kieran would forgive them having their way with me as long as it produced a child.

I told my fears to Reem. He was the only one in the castle I trusted. He was always there for me. He was always ready to listen and show me true caring. At least that’s what I thought.

The morning after I gave myself to Reem, I found out the truth. “I have succeeded, Master,” I heard Reem reporting to Kieran the next morning, on one knee while he gave his report. “I took her, as instructed,”

“Good. Once she is with child, I will set you free, as promised,” Kieran replied. I was horror struck and felt even more violated. Reem had only wanted to be with me to get his freedom. He hadn’t truly cared for me at all. He was just using me.

I vowed not to trust anyone else in the castle. I didn’t want to be used anymore.


	28. Now

I came back to myself buried in emotions. I was still glowing in the kiss from Hunter, but also feeling betrayed by the encounter with Reem that I had remembered. I couldn’t quite figure out what I was supposed to be feeling. 

/You ok?/ Hunter asked me, his voice a reassurance in my mind. /I felt the emotion storm/ he reassured me that he wasn’t prying, but had simply felt your emotions.

/I’m fine/ I replied quickly. /Just a bad memory/

/It didn’t come through. Apparently, we’re not physically close enough for you to share without more effort. Do you want to talk about it?/ he asked, always caring, always kind. His voice sounded concerned, but not prying.

I hesitated, trying to figure out what to say. /Not yet. Not this memory/ I told him. I still had to think this one through before I shared it with him. I didn’t think Hunter was capable of the same level of betrayal as Reem had. I still needed to think it over and assess it more before I was capable of talking to Hunter about it.

/It’s ok. If you need to talk, I’m here for you/

/Thank you/ I replied and let the connection fade away. It was still there, but it was inactive unless either of us needed it.

I left my door open in case Bree wanted to come cuddle up with me while I read. I was surprised she hadn’t come to find me already.

I decided that I didn’t want to meet Michael in my ‘date’ clothes. It felt too vulnerable. I hung the dress up carefully and changed into a comfy pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that was too big, but that only made it more comfortable. I didn’t want Michael to see my wounds and my scars. He hadn’t earned the right. I didn’t trust him enough.

I curled up on my bed with the book Hunter had bought me. My bed was right next to the window, so I could enjoy the sunlight.

Bree whined from the doorway. I looked up and she wagged her tail at me. “You can come in,” I told her. She bounded in and jumped up onto my bed, curling up so she could keep my feet warm.

I was avoiding thinking about the memories I had just relived and I knew it. I kept rereading the same sentence over and over while my mind tried to think about the memories instead of what I was reading. I finally succumbed to the thoughts and tried to work out how I felt.

I was hurt by what Reem had done, but I couldn’t blame his motivation either. I wouldn’t have done _anything_ to be free from Kieran, but it was a close thing. I couldn’t really blame Reem, even though I wanted to. I wanted to hate him for what he had done. I allowed myself to hate him for a moment in full before shoving the emotions back down again. Hating Reem for betraying me and my trust wouldn’t help anything. I turned my thoughts to Hunter. I trusted him. I liked him. I hoped he wouldn’t betray me too. I didn’t think he actually would. He was so patient and gentle and kind. But I hadn’t thought Reem would betray me either. I knew I just had to trust Hunter. I couldn’t survive without trust and love and friends. I wouldn’t live without trust and friendship, even if I did get hurt again. I would be careful, I had been hurt too many times not to be, but I wasn’t going to give up.

With that settled, I could enjoy my book for the rest of the afternoon.

I was toward the end of the book and wondering how I was going to get my hands on the sequel when Hunter got back from his meeting. He sent a pulse down our bond, so I wasn’t startled when he came home. I smiled at his thoughtfulness. I got up from bed and went downstairs to meet him. Bree was following close behind.

He smiled when he saw me. I saw him glance at the book still in my hands. I hadn’t put it aside when I got up. “You’re almost done with that already?” he asked with a grin. He didn’t comment on my change of wardrobe. I was grateful; I really didn’t want to try to explain it to him.

I nodded. “Yeah. Is there a library where I can get the next book?” I asked him. I couldn’t buy the rest of the series. I really had to figure out the whole money thing at some point. It wasn’t urgent now except for my desire to buy more books.

“I have the rest of the series,” he replied with a smile. “You can borrow mine,” I grinned.

“Even better!” That way the books didn’t have to leave their home. He chuckled.

“I’ll give them to you after the meeting with Michael,” he told me. He checked his watch. “They should be here soon. Carl is bringing him over.” He added at my confused expression. I nodded.

Sebastian came out of his room then. He stopped when he was more than arm’s length away from me, as if scared of accidentally touching me. Even though most of my skin was covered, excepting my hands and feet. He was covered from neck to toe, including gloves. He was taking no chances. “I was informed there is a meeting tonight.” he addressed Hunter.

“Yes. Michael is coming over to answer a few questions. I would appreciate if you were there as I am not sure how this meeting will go,” Hunter told him. He glanced at me and I gleaned his meaning. He wanted Sebastian to be able to get me out of the meeting immediately if things went wrong, or deal with Michael if things went really wrong.

“Of course I will attend,” Sebastian replied. He gestured us into the formal sitting room. “Princess,” he indicated that I should go before him. I hesitated for a moment, unused to such actions, but I composed myself quickly and nodded.

Sebastian took point in getting everything set up. He indicated where I should sit, on a loveseat as far from the main door as possible. It was next to a tapestry on the wall. He set out drinks for everyone and took up a post next to where I was sitting. Hunter was waiting in the foyer for Michael and Carl to get here.

I was nervous waiting for them to arrive, but I tried not to show it. Everything would be ok. Hunter and Sebastian wouldn’t let anything happen. Michael wasn’t evil after all; misguided and stupid occasionally, but he wasn’t truly evil.

It wasn’t long before Hunter led the others into the room. They blocked Michael from coming within arms reach of me and indicated that he could sit on the couch across the table from me. Sebastian hadn’t moved from my side. Carl sat next to Michael and Hunter took the spot next to me on the loveseat. I took his hand, nervous and anxious over this meeting, seeking physical comfort from someone I trusted. He smiled at me reassuringly.

Michael saw me take Hunter’s hand and his eyes widened in surprise before his expression turned to anger. I shrank back and tightened my grip on Hunter’s hand. “So you two are a thing now?” Michael grumbled, glaring at me. “After everything _we’ve_ been through?”

“Speaking of,” Hunter interrupted, not bothering to answer Michael’s demanded question. “Adi has remembered something about you during her time with Kieran and she wanted to ask you about it,”

Michael’s face blanched. “What did you remember?” he asked softly. He was speaking gently now, no sign of his previous anger. He looked horrified instead. I took a deep steadying breath before I began to tell him what I had remembered.

“Is that it?” he asked. I nodded.

“Why were you there? How did you even find me?” I asked quickly. He shook his head. Hunter and Carl both glared at him. “I’ll explain, I promise, but I want you to properly remember everything that happened before I explain. You’re still missing something major that happened. Let me show you?” I hesitated, unsure how much I trusted him. He sighed and grumbled impatiently. “Bring your boyfriend if you must,” he grumbled, “but you need to see what else happened before I explain more.” He held out his hand for me to take. I stumbled over the word boyfriend. I didn’t think that Hunter and I were _that_ official... This was more important than relationship statuses, though, so I ignored Michael’s choice of words.

/Come with me?/I asked Hunter.  I didn’t want to do this without his support.  I didn’t trust Michael enough.

/Of course/ Came his reply without hesitation. He held my hand as I reached out to take Michael’s hand. Hunter wasn’t going to leave me, not unless I needed him to. /I’m here for you. We’ll face this together/ I was grateful for his encouragement. I took Michael’s hand and instantly we were sucked into his memories, blasting open my own memories from that time as well.


	29. Then

I saw flashes of memories that weren’t meant for my eyes. Michael’s birthdays, Chrismases, even him kissing Paige! I felt Hunter’s magical presence grab me and hold me steady. /Use your magic/ Hunter told me. /Michael isn’t a mage, he can’t share his thoughts as easily as we can/ Hunter kept me safe before turning his attention to Michael. /Focus your thoughts on the memories you want her to see/ He instructed. /We can help you, but you have to work at it too/

The images stopped flashing around us and focused on one specific memory. A lot of the detail was missing, it wasn’t the same as my own memories, or sharing magic with Hunter. I saw Michael train to hunt vampires with Paige after I had been taken. My brain imagined a training montaged as I watched him train and study and research where Kieran could possibly have taken me.

The images changed again and he was driving up to Kieran’s mansion. I saw him steel himself and come up to the door. I couldn’t read his mind enough to figure out what his plan was, but I gathered it was something stupid as he reached up to knock on the door. He was going to question whoever answered. He hadn’t expected some mythical creature to open the door. He had expected even less for that mythical creature to be me. I felt how horrified he was by my hybrid form. How ugly and hideous he thought it was. He couldn’t keep those thoughts from coming down the bond between us. He wasn’t a mage and couldn’t hide things. He couldn’t control what he showed me, what he shared with me.

He grabbed me and ran from Kieran’s mansion, all other plans gone from his mind. If he could just get me away, he could deal with the vampires later. He was angry when the vampires laughed at him, his mind reeling as they brought us back to Kieran’s mansion. He couldn’t stand what I had become, he felt awful for how I was treated and how I cowered from Kieran and the vampires. He had let this happen. He watched helplessly as Kieran broke my bones and hobbled me. He only feared for himself when Kieran turned on him.

He was relieved and grateful when I saved him from Kieran, though he was angry at himself for failing. He wasn’t going to give up.

The images changed again, and focused more clearly this time. These were the memories Michael wanted me to see. After tons more research, he had found out where the vampire castle was and had made plans to sneak in. He planned on posing as a servant until he could find me and get the two of us out safely.

He successfully snuck into the castle and disguised himself as a servant. He began searching the castle for me, careful not to be detected by the vampires as a fraud. He was lucky that most of the vampires didn’t pay attention to any of the humans. He was unlucky when he found me.

He found me in one of the dungeon cells. He was horrified at how I had deteriorated since the last time he saw me. I could barely look up at him when he entered the dungeon. I had obviously been beaten for something recently. “Adia, I finally found you,” he whispered, reaching through the cell bars to touch me, as if to make sure I was real. I couldn’t speak. He didn’t understand why I wasn’t talking to him. “Adia, it’s me. I’m going to get you out of here.” He rushed over to the cell door and worked on getting it open. The key had been right next to it. He should have been more wary, this had been too easy. He didn’t notice me shaking my head and waving at him, protesting. I finally clapped to get his attention. He looked at me and realized I hadn’t stood and was trying to get his attention. I shook my head, trying desperately to keep him from opening the cell door. He ignored me and opened it, rushing to my side. “What did he do to you?” he asked, in horror. My hybrid form had faded away at his disgust of it. I hadn’t stood since my feet were shattered and so obviously broken. I had been left here as bait.

He swept me up off of the floor and into his arms. “C’mon, lets get you out of here. We’ll get you healed up back at the school.” He turned to leave the cell and saw the room had filled with vampires when he had come to me.

The vampires laughed and slammed the cell door shut, locking Michael in with me. “Go get Kieran,” one of the vampires ordered the others. That vampire stayed and the rest ran to obey and to go get Kieran.

“She was bait, stupid human. We knew the moment you stepped foot in the castle that you didn’t belong. Someone recognized you from you attempt to get her at Kieran’s mansion.” Michael held me while I sobbed from the pain.

“I’m so sorry, Adia,” he whispered as he held me. “I didn’t want you to be more hurt. Not because of me,”

It wasn’t long before Kieran came down to the dungeons. “Good, you caught the thief. Bring them,” he ordered the other vampires. Surprisingly, they let Michael carry me as they marched him upstairs. We ended up in the smaller throne room. Kieran didn’t use this room often. He nodded to Mathias. “Take the girl.” Mathias took me from Michael, despite Michael’s effort to stop him. It was no use and he gave up to keep me from getting hurt. One of the vampires frisked him, removing all of his weapons. “She’ll be healed after I’ve dealt with you. She’s no use to me hobbled, but I couldn’t risk her escaping with you, thief,” Kieran told Michael as he took his throne. “Now then. You risked a lot coming here. Your life and your freedom not the least among them. You have exactly one chance to leave here with your life. She gave up her freedom to save yours, and I’m not inclined to go back on my word today. You also amuse me with your attempts to get her back, though my amusement is running out.” Michael was listening, but was trying desperately to think of a plan to get both of us out of this. I knew it was useless long before he did. I also couldn’t seem to gather the magic to teleport him out of here again. He was going to have to get himself out of this mess.

“Like I said, you have only one chance to save your life. If you don’t, I will kill you tonight and you’ll never get a chance to save the girl.” Kieran told Michael. Michael was starting to realize that whatever Kieran wanted, he was going to have to do. Michael nodded his understanding.

“What do you want?” he demanded. Kieran nodded and the rest of the vampires besides himself and Mathias left. He was in no danger from Michael, who was just an unarmed teenager at this point.

Kieran smiled at Michael indulgently. “I want her bred,” he indicated me. “You will attempt to impregnate her and I will allow you leave with your life, and no knowledge of how to get back here of course.” Michael and I were both equally horrified by this. “It is your choice, however, you must make it now. What will it be?” Michael looked over at me, asking my opinion. All I could do was nod. I couldn’t sentence him to death. Not even when the price was this steep. Michael looked defeated, but finally nodded.

“Fine,” he told Kieran, a touch of anger in his voice. “You have a deal,”

Kieran turned to Mathias then. “See that it is done. Afterwards have his memory wiped of how to get to this place and have him deposited back to his home,”

The memories faded after that as if he didn’t want to remember what happened next, but he didn’t hide from me that things went as Kieran wished and he woke up the next morning with the terrible knowledge of what he had done, and no knowledge of how to find me again to try again to save me.


	30. Now

Michael shoved us out of his mind with more force than I would have expected from someone who supposedly was not a mage.

Hunter came back to his senses first. He was more used to magical workings than I was. I sat in dazed shock of what we had just seen. “How could you?” Hunter demanded of Michael, his voice a roar as he jumped to his feet.

“What would _you_ have done in my place?” Michael shouted back, standing to meet Hunter’s challenge, to meet his glare. “What would anyone have done? It’s not like I wanted to!” he glanced over at me. “No offense, Adia,” he added quickly. I shook my head. I wasn’t offended. I hadn’t wanted to either. “It was that or die,”

Hunter grumbled something about how Michael should have died instead, but it was half hearted at best. No logical person would have made a different decision in Michael’s place.

Michael turned to me, ignoring Hunter now. “I’m sorry,” he told me softly, taking his seat again so we were on the same level. “Kieran gave me no choice. I’d been looking for you for years. I failed you twice when I finally found you. Three times you saved me from Kieran, and I repaid you terribly. I’m not going to ask for your forgiveness. I don’t deserve it. I _tried_ , Adia, I really did. I wanted so badly to save you after you gave yourself up to save us. I did everything I could-”

“Why didn’t you come to us for help?” Hunter asked, sounding more calm now. “Paige would have told you about us and I can’t imagine Maester Wright would turn you away,”

Michael looked away. I could tell he wanted to lie, wanted to make something up, but there were too many mind readers in the room. He wouldn’t get a lie past anyone, especially Carl. “I thought I could rescue her myself.” I heard Michael’s thoughts then. I could tell Hunter and Carl had too. Michael had thought when he was a stupid teenager with too little training that he could handle the vampires himself and that I’d owe him a relationship for saving me.

“You stupid, selfish-” Carl started, turning on Michael now. Hunter glanced over at me as the tension exploded in the room. I felt I must have missed something for them to be so angry with Michael.

“Sebastian,” Hunter said simply as he got into the fray against Michael. Sebastian had me off of the couch and in his arms before I had even seen him move. He pushed aside the tapestry to reveal a small room. He set me down on my feet inside.

“This is a safe room. Stay here,” he told me firmly. He left before I could say anything, shutting and bolting the door behind him.

Darkness fell around me. The safe room had no lights, no windows. It was reinforced, soundproof, and utterly dark. I was locked inside while the boys did who knew what with Michael. I wondered briefly what he had thought that was so abhorrent that the normally calm Carl was this upset.

Panic overtook my logical mind for a moment as flashbacks to cells I had survived in Kieran’s service overwhelmed me. I tried to focus on doing something useful instead of panicking. I was locked in a cell, but I wasn’t completely helpless, not this time. _Hold yourself together_ I ordered myself. _Now, you’re locked in the dark. What can you do about that?_ I remembered that cats could see in the dark. I didn’t know how to shift just my eyes, but I could shift into hybrid form even when terrified thanks to Kieran. I shifted quickly and felt stronger for a moment when I had my wings, claws, and unicorn horn. I opened my cat eyes and was relieved for an instant that I could see better. That instant was over when I realized that this room was truly more like a cell than a safe room. I knew where the door was and I still couldn’t discern it from the rest of the wall. It blended in so seamlessly. There was nothing in here. It was just a concrete cell with concrete walls.

My fragile control broke and I found myself desperately beating against the spot where the door had been, screaming and sobbing for someone to help me. I couldn’t reach my magic to go through the door like I had in the dorm. Every time I reached for it, it fizzled away, as though this was a cell to contain mages. I shrieked in frustration. I couldn’t be locked up again. Not again. Not when I had finally found my freedom. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, be a captive again.

I don’t know how long it was before the door finally opened again. I tumbled backwards, landing hard on my butt when the door opened in towards me. “Adi?” a soft gentle voice asked. There was a hint of worry in that one word. It was Hunter who had opened the door. I jumped to my feet and ran to the door, and him. He stepped aside before I trampled him. “Oh, Adi, I’m so sorry. I told Sebastian to take you somewhere safe. I didn’t know there was an actual saferoom in this house.” Hunter slammed the door shut and put the tapestry back in place so I didn’t have to see that horrible room again. I stood with my arms wrapped around myself as if trying to hold myself together. Hunter opened his arms and I went to him, letting him wrap me in his warmth and safety. He led me back to the loveseat and urged me to sit down.

“What’s a saferoom?” I asked him between tears and sniffles. He sat on the coffee table in front of me and took my hands gently in his. He began healing them. I had apparently beaten my hands bloody and severely bruised when I was banging on the door. I hadn’t even noticed.

“It’s a room usually for new shapeshifters while they are learning to control their beasts. They won’t hurt anyone from in there and it’s safer for everyone. Some of them have also been used as cells for mages,” he explained as he worked. “I really didn’t expect one to be here, especially one of the mage rooms. I _never_ would have suggested one of the saferooms as a safe place for you. They _can_ be safe spaces, a place where a shifter knows that they can’t hurt themselves or others.” I nodded and wiped away my tears with my newly healed hands.

“Where is everyone?” I asked him softly.

“Carl went for a run. He was rather upset and needed to be in wolf form for awhile. Michael went home. We let him live, even though we’re all upset with him. Sebastian went to go talk to Maester Wright. He feels awful for the misunderstanding. He thought you would be safe in the saferoom and didn’t consider your past. He figured you probably wouldn’t want to see him for a little while, so he’s making himself scarce.” I nodded. I was grateful this was just a misunderstanding. My breathing was finally calming now that I was safely out of that horrible cell.

“Why are you _so_ angry with Michael? Did I miss something?” I asked. I really felt I had missed something with how angry they were acting.

“He’s an asshole,” Hunter said simply. I could tell from his tone that that was all he was going to say on the subject. I would have to get the information from elsewhere. “The evening’s still young. I should suggest that we work on your combat skills, or book learning, but we could watch a movie upstairs instead...” he smiled at me and I felt a smile emerge on my own face.

“That sounds like way more fun,” I agreed. He stood and offered me a hand. I took it and let him pull me to my feet. I bounced up on my toes to kiss him, just a quick peck on the lips, and was relieved when that got me a bigger smile. Kisses were ok. They were innocent and chaste. It was fun to pretend I was a normal teenager who could enjoy a few kisses with my...boyfriend? That point still had to be worked out.

We made a stop by the kitchen first to make some snacks. I helped Hunter make them and was glad to feel normal again, until I caught my reflection in the stainless steel refrigerator. I hadn’t changed back to human. I was still in hybrid form. Hunter had let me kiss him like this! He turned to look at me and caught me staring at him in horror and humiliation. “What’s wrong?” he asked, looking around for the source of my distress. He rushed over to me when he couldn’t find it. “What is it?”

I indicated the horn growing out of my forehead. “I didn’t change back-” now I couldn’t focus enough to change back. “You let me kiss you like this!” I was horrified. This form was hideous. I had a unicorn horn! I had a tail! Hell, Kieran had only liked this form so he could prove who I was.

Hunter gave me a small smile. He pushed my hair out of my face, tucking it back behind my ear and kissed the tip of my unicorn horn. He pulled me into his arms and ran his hand down my back and wings. “This is who you are,” he reminded me softly. “You come to us from all of the Tribes. You don’t have to hide who you are from me. You’re beautiful in whatever form you’re in and I...care for you no matter what you look like,” I could tell the word ‘care’ wasn’t the one he had wanted to use, but it was too early for any other word. We weren’t even officially a couple. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. No one had called me beautiful before. No one had seemed to think of me as anything other than a freak.

/Truly?/I asked him, unable to form real words. He smiled and wiped my tears away.

/Truly/he replied. I could feel the truth in his mental voice and gave him a smile. It was incredibly difficult to lie over telepathy.

The oven timer went off then, breaking our moment. We both laughed and finished getting our snacks together for the movie. We headed upstairs to our living room and set out our snacks on the coffee table in front of the couch we had claimed as ours. Hunter set up the movie and we curled up on the couch to watch it. He rubbed my back, or petted my cat ears, or my wolf tail, or stroked my wings. He was showing me how comfortable he really was with this form and who I really was. I was grateful for every moment of it.

It was late after we’d watched a couple of movies. Hunter nudged me fully awake from where I was dozing against him, only partially awake and comfortable in his arms. “C’mon wereling, off to bed with you.” I looked up at him with my smile reaching my eyes.

“Wereling?” I asked him with a giggle. He shrugged.

“I can’t call you ‘little wolf’ anymore, you’re not exactly _just_ a wolf. If you don’t like it...” I smiled up at him.

“Never said I don’t like it,” I told him sleepily and tried to snuggle back into his arms.

“Nope, c’mon upup, you have to go to your bed and I have to go to mine. Maester Wright won’t let us both stay here if he thinks your honor is compromised.” I grumbled, but got to my feet and let him walk me to the door that led to the girls’ side of the house. “Get some sleep, wereling,” he bid me softly and gave me a chaste kiss goodnight. I smiled and headed off to my room to find my own bed, enjoying how the evening had ended.


	31. Then

“Adi, no!” Reem called after me when he realized I had heard Kieran and himself talking. Kieran was out of earshot now, having gone off to do vampire king things. Reem ran after me and grabbed my arm to stop me from running off. “Adi, I _had_ to tell him. He was going to have the whole court on you. If you took someone to your bed willingly, he wasn’t going to force.” He told me, pleading with me to believe him. I wanted to, badly. He had been the only one here to show me any kindness.

I realized at the same time, though, that he had kept me isolated from the other girls. I hadn’t seen Rose or any of the others in ages. Reem had kept insisting that I spend all my free time with him and not them. I wasn’t entirely sure that was normal.

I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. I wanted to ask him why, but I couldn’t. My voice was still held captive by Kieran.

“I love you,” he told me firmly. He was holding me tightly, bruising me with his hands clasped too tightly around my stick thin arms. “I care. I don’t _want_ to see you hurt.” He shook me, as if that would make me listen to him more.

I still didn’t know what to think. He said he loved me. Could I believe him? He’d never said it before. But he had held me, cared for me when I was too hurt or weak to do it for myself. If he didn’t take care of me, didn’t love me, who here was going to? But was he really just doing this to get his freedom? Who wouldn’t want to be free of Kieran? He must’ve figured out what I was thinking, because he answered my unspoken question.

“Of course I want my freedom, but I want to help you. I want both of us free. I love you,” he insisted. I didn’t know why I felt he wasn’t telling me the truth. There seemed to be a strange edge to his voice. He shook me again and my world started spinning. He lifted me off of my feet easily and I remembered the strength of the shifters. He could break me easily if he wished. “You love me too, right?” he demanded.

My abused 16 year old self agreed with him. I nodded, agreeing to the words, to the emotion I wasn’t sure I felt. I tried to convince myself that I even believed it, believed this was the best love I could find. I even believed this was the best love that I deserved. He said he loved me, he wanted me to spend all of my time with him. He came to find me when he thought I should be with him and I wasn’t. I thought it was sweet that he was checking up on me to make sure I was ok. I didn’t realize how controlling he was being. I didn’t realize at the time that the bruises he left me with weren’t normal. Being afraid of him being unhappy wasn’t normal either. I forced myself to see it as love, to keep myself sane.

I knew looking back on it, that it hadn’t been love at all.


	32. Now

I woke to a werewolf standing over me licking my face. “Bree!” I groaned at her. “It’s sleepy time, not lick my face time.” I tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but she barked and started licking my face again. “Bree, you’re a werewolf, not a puppy,” I reminded her.

Suddenly there was a human girl instead of a werewolf. “Hunter says get up!” she told me in a childish voice. “Says to meet him downstairs for breakfast and I’m not allowed to let you fall asleep again,”

“Fine,” I grumbled, sitting up. She leapt off of the bed, shifting back into wolf form as she did. I got dressed and went downstairs. Sebastian was setting out breakfast before he went to sleep for the day. He looked up when I came into the room.

“Princess, I apologize for yesterday,” he told me with a deep bow.

“It’s ok, Sebastian, really,” I replied. “It was just a misunderstanding.” He hadn’t meant to hurt me or cause me any discomfort. I realized that after spending time around Sebastian, his presence wasn’t affecting me as strongly as it had previously. I could still sense his power. He was a strong vampire. I just wasn’t as scared of him. I thought part of the reasoning might be that he’s an Untainted. That knowledge was comforting.

I sat down to eat as soon as he finished setting the table. He didn’t comment on my lack of manners. I was grateful for that. Four years without decent food couldn’t be combated in just a few days. I fought against my instinct to wait until he told me it was ok to eat. I forced myself to eat anyway. I needed to get past the trauma Kieran had forced on me. Eating in the same room that a vampire inhabited was a good start.

Hunter entered the room a minute later. I looked up at him, instinct making me wary of anyone entering a room I was in. I relaxed when I realized it was him. I was confused when I realized he was wearing workout clothes. That wasn’t normal for him. It was weird to see him out of uniform. He sat down at the table with me and began to serve himself his own breakfast. “Thank you for making breakfast,” he told Sebastian. We ate in silence for a few minutes. “We’re going to start working on your fighting ability after breakfast.” I silently thanked him for avoiding the word ‘training’.

“Is it really going to help?” I asked him. I was wary of how much I could learn before we had to face Kieran. He thought it over for a moment.

“It will take months or even years for you to learn enough to take out a vampire. You will be able to learn enough, especially with your enhanced shapeshifter strength and speed, to be able to hold a vampire off until help can arrive. We’ll give you the lessons to make sure you’ll be able to take them out eventually, but for now, I’ll settle for knowing you can handle yourself until we can get to you to help.” I nodded, accepting his response. I could tell it was thought out and he knew what he was talking about. “Larissa and Paige will be here in a little while to help. I suggest changing into something more workout appropriate...” he looked away quickly as though he hadn’t been observing my clothes. I was in uniform and quickly realized that working out in a fairly short skirt wasn’t ideal. I felt myself turn red when I made this realization and nodded. I shoved another pancake in my mouth and jumped up from the table to go change, embarrassed.

“Adi! I didn’t mean-!” Hunter’s voice cut off as I ran up the stairs to the girls’ side of the upstairs. I slammed my room’s door behind me when I made it to the safety of my own room.

I leaned against the door hyperventilating, trying to think over what had happened. I hadn’t known Hunter’s plan had been to workout this morning. There was no reason for me not to come to breakfast dressed in the school uniform. So why had I freaked out? I tried to calm my breathing as I focused on thinking it through. Hunter had noticed my clothes. That’s what had triggered the freakout. But he had only noticed that I wasn’t wearing appropriate clothes for working out. And I wasn’t. I knew I wasn’t. Skirts weren’t appropriate for working out. It must’ve been him drawing attention to the skirt. I didn’t mind wearing the skirt, but I didn’t want attention drawn to the fact that I wasn’t wearing pants. Skirts felt more vulnerable than pants. That must’ve been where the freakout had come from. Now that I knew that, I could focus on calming my breathing and working through my issues.

I stood up from where I had been leaning against the door and went to dig in my dresser for something to wear that would be appropriate for working out. I didn’t really know what kind of clothes I was looking for, but finally found what looked like a gym class uniform: black sweatpants with the school logo on the pocket and a school logo T-shirt. I also found a pair of sneakers in the closet. I hoped that would be good enough. I headed back downstairs, self conscious when I saw Hunter pacing at the bottom of the stairs.

“Are you ok?” he asked me. I nodded.

“I’ll be fine,” I replied. I didn’t give him any more information about my panic attack. It wasn’t something I wanted to discuss right now. He accepted my decision and gestured toward the back door of the house.

“Larissa and Paige are waiting for us,” he told me. I bounded down the rest of the stairs and over to him. I made the first move and grabbed his hand. He gave me a smile.

“I’m sorry for worrying you.”

He shook his head. “As long as you’re ok,” he replied warmly. We made our way out into the back yard. It was fenced in with a privacy fence. No one would be able to watch what we were doing out here. At least no one would be able to watch me make a fool of myself trying to learn how to fight.

I didn’t have to worry too much. Hunter was a good teacher and Paige and Larissa were both great at helping. We went through warmups, stretching muscles I hadn’t used even before Kieran. They showed me how to make a proper fist, how to throw a proper punch and some techniques for blocking unfriendly punches and escaping from holds. It was a great lesson and while I was exhausted afterwards, I felt like I had actually learned something. As Hunter had said, it wasn’t enough to take out a vampire, but it would be a surprise to Kieran. That was a good start. Carl joined us later and we sat around the coffee table in the upstairs living room studying. We joked and laughed and answered questions about what we were studying. Paige babbled about relationships in the school and which teachers were particularly nasty. It was comfortable and normal.

Silence fell over the group when Bree escorted the healer up to join us. My friends avoided looking at me. I had a feeling they all felt responsible that I had been so hurt. My arm still hurt constantly. I was used to pain, though, and it didn’t bother me most of the time, except now when the healer had come to see me. “Adianna, I need to change your bandages.” I nodded and stood, groaning as I was sore from the morning’s workout. We went to a chair in the corner where there was a semblance of privacy and the healer got to work changing the bandages on my arm and applying more healing salve. The wound didn’t look any better than it had the night Sebastian had burned me. I could tell that the healer was worried that it wasn’t healing well too. She gave me more pills for the pain. A glance at the pills told me they also had healing spells built into them. They must be worried if they were hitting me with extra healing spells on top of their salves and magical ointments. She glared at me until I took the pills and showed her that I had taken them.

“Now rest,” she ordered. She gave more detailed instructions to Hunter while Carl put up all of our studying things and Paige put a movie on for us to watch. I curled up on the couch with Hunter and was relieved when no one commented about the arrangement. Bree and Carl curled up on one of the other couches. It wasn’t romantic between them, but just the closeness of pack mates.

“You’re safe,” Hunter whispered when he noticed me fighting against the sleepiness that the pills were causing. “You need rest to heal. I’ll still be here when you wake and I’ll make sure nothing happens while you’re asleep,” he reminded me and kissed the top of my head as he wrapped a blanket around us. I couldn’t even nod before I lost the fight against the pills and fell into a magical healing sleep.


	33. Then

There was another gap in my memories. I don’t know how much time had passed, but the memories picked back up when Kieran had decided to move us temporarily to a mansion in the human world. It was right after Healer had examined me and reported to him. Kieran seemed extra excited when he came to tell us the news that we were moving. He sent Rose, Mathias, and Healer ahead with me with strict orders for them. I was to be sequestered, no contact with any males, including Mathias once we were safely at the mansion.

We left immediately, in the middle of the night, so I couldn’t even enjoy the sunshine while we were out in the human world. I zoned out through the trip, where we were going didn’t matter when I had no chance of escape. It didn’t matter what my environment was like. Not much seemed to matter anymore.

All too soon, we had arrived at the mansion, hidden deep in the woods. Rose led me up the stairs to the room I was to be sequestered in. “At least you won’t be bored out of your mind here. You’re going to be sequestered for nine months, it was the least I could do to make sure you had _some_ form of entertainment,” she explained as she opened the door. I realized then the reason for the move and why I was being singled out. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I was finally giving Kieran what he wanted: I was pregnant. I didn’t want to think about it, or think about who the possible father was. I was 16, too young for any of this.

My attention was stolen from my problems at the moment the door swung open. It opened onto a massive library. I gaped in awe at it. I hadn’t seen that many books since I was a kid. It was the same awe as my first trip to the public library when I got to check out a book on my own. Rose smiled at my reaction. “Something in here ought to be able to keep your attention.” I nodded, trying to focus on the books instead of my current predicament. Rose indicated an empty corner of the room. “We’ll be putting a bed there for you. Kieran won’t let you leave this room until after the baby is born. I’ll be bringing all your meals and there’s a bathroom over there. I know it sucks to be locked in one room for nine months...” she trailed off. I gave her a hug. I appreciated that she had tried to help me by convincing Kieran to put me here instead of some empty chamber.

The preparations to the room were finished before the end of the night. I had a comfortable bed for the first time in years. It wasn’t comfortable by normal standards, as it was just a cheap bed, but it was amazing to me when I hadn’t had a bed in years. There were lamps so I could read at night, multiple desks throughout the library, comfy chairs, and a table and chair set was brought in for me to eat at.

I slept the day away, relaxing for the first time in years. I knew this was only temporary, but I was going to rest and heal and recover as much as possible for the months that I was sequestered. This was pampering compared to the first years I had spent in Kieran’s service.

I knew it wouldn’t last past the day I gave birth. I also still had hope then that I would escape or somehow be freed from Kieran’s slavery. I spent all of my time scouring the library, trying to read useful things. I studied up on history and literature easily. I found some old science and math textbooks hidden in the back of the library and made my way through them with difficulty. I studied Latin. I studied anything I could find that I thought might help me in the human world, in human schools if I could ever make my way back there.

It kept me sane in those months, planning what I was going to do when I was free. I ignored the problem in the back of my mind that I would be useless to Kieran after my baby was born. He wouldn’t need me when he had a perfectly pliant slave from day one. I crammed as much knowledge into my head as I could, convincing myself that I’d be free and somehow would be able to use that knowledge in the future.

I tried to ignore my changing body during those months as well, but that was useless. I was finally getting food steadily for the first time in years and couldn’t keep anything down. It was horrible. I blocked out everything about my body, feeling again that it was being used against me. I hadn’t wanted any of this, especially not to be pregnant at 16.

I saw no one during those months except for Rose and Healer. They checked on me and brought my meals. Rose spent time with me, chatting about nothing, even though I couldn’t reply to her. She told me what Kieran was up to and about the other slaves.

The months crawled by and passed too quickly at the same time. All too soon, I was taken down to Healer’s workspace. My water had broken, the baby was coming.

I screamed, though soundlessly as Kieran still hadn’t given my voice back, through the labor. It was hell. There were no other words to describe it. It was the worst pain I had ever experienced, even through all of the torture I had lived with in the last three years.

I hated that Kieran was watching with unbridled pleasure at my pain. He was watching greedily for my baby.

The second she was out and crying, he ripped her away from me. I screamed and fought against the people around me, trying to get her back. She was mine! She was mine to protect. I was supposed to love her and care for her. I wasn’t sure what I felt towards her. I was too messed up emotionally from being Kieran’s slave, but I knew the moment I saw her that I didn’t want him to have her.

Kieran held her away from me and slapped me across the face.

“You’ve forgotten your place,” he snarled at me. “Take her to the dungeons. Now,” he ordered those around me. I was too weak from pain to do anything to fight them, but I still tried. I had to get her away from him.

Kieran turned and strode from the room, my daughter in his arms as I sobbed helplessly.


	34. Now

“Adi!” Hunter yelled. I was thrashing against the blankets he had wrapped around me, screaming. “Adi, calm down, you’re safe,” Hunter insisted. I still struggled against him, throwing the blankets off. Hunter resisted physically restraining me. I jumped to my feet, ready to rush off. “Adi! What happened? Please tell me,”

His ‘please’ stopped me. I turned and looked at him frantically with tears in my eyes. “I have to find her. I have to find out what happened to her!” I demanded, sobbing.

“Who, Adi?” Paige asked softly.

“My daughter!” I told them all, frustrated that they didn’t understand and they were keeping me here, keeping me from finding her. I noticed something that looked like hurt in Hunter’s eyes. Paige and Carl just looked horrified.

“Adi, please calm down. Tell us what you saw,” Carl said softly. I spun towards him.

“I can’t. He took my daughter! I have to save her!” Carl took a step toward me.

“Let me help you calm down. Let me help so we can all help you find out what’s happening.” I felt betrayed, hurt that they weren’t running off with me to find my daughter, but at the same time, I appreciated that they needed more information. I nodded. I knew I needed their help. Carl came closer to me and I could feel his magic pouring over me. His magic was calming, soothing. I finally felt like I could breathe again.

Hunter folded me into his arms. “Are you ok, now?” I nodded, sniffling, but I had calmed enough to focus and think again. “Will you tell me what you saw, what you remembered?” He settled us back on the couch. I nodded and opened myself and my memories to Hunter. I hid in the back of my own mind while he saw what I had remembered.

Hunter blinked a couple of times once he had seen everything. I saw that he was blinking back tears. “We can’t just run off to save her. We don’t know where she is or if she’s ok.”

“She’s not ok!” I protested, my emotions fighting through Carl’s magic.

“I know, love, I know. What I meant, is that we need more information before we can go save her. I’ll help you, I swear it. We’ll find her and save her. We’ll work together,” he promised me. I nodded and wiped tears from my eyes.

“What do we do?” I asked him.

“We need more information first. Carl, Paige, go to the libraries and see what you can find out.”

They jumped up and both replied with a “Yes, sir.” They rushed off to do their research. Hunter turned to me.

“This is going to be hard, but we need to see if we can unlock more of your memories. I think that’s the best way to find out what happened to her.” I nodded and held my hands out to him.

I hadn’t wanted a daughter. I hadn’t wanted to be a mother. I sure as hell hadn’t wanted any of the sex that created her. But she was my flesh and blood. She was my daughter. I had to try to save her.

“Let’s get started,” I told Hunter. I knew this would be hell to relive, but I had to know.

“Are you ready?” He asked. I nodded and took his hands, dragging him in to my mind this time. I didn’t have time to wait for him to initiate this. I had to find out what happened to my daughter. She was my responsibility. I felt like I failed her and I needed to fix it now.


	35. Then

I don’t know how long I spent in the dungeons after my daughter’s birth. Kieran came for irregular and frequent beatings and to take my blood. He kept insisting the baby wasn’t big enough to take blood from yet. “You’ll be useless to me once she is,” he swore every time he came down.

I only ate when Reem or Rose could sneak me food. Kieran was pissed at me this time and wasn’t authorizing any food. He wanted me to die down here, slowly. At least, that’s what I thought his plan was. There was no other logic to his behavior. He kept reminding me constantly that I was useless to him as soon as the baby grew.

I knew that Kieran was taking more blood than he usually did. I was weak and tired all of the time, and dizzy after his feedings. I had tracks of bite marks going up and down my arms and legs and barely enough food to survive on. I quickly lost all of the weight I had put on during my pregnancy. I kept track of Kieran’s visits, marking a spot on the wall with tally marks in my own blood after he left me each time. I couldn’t accurately track the days, there were no windows down here, no access to anything to see how much time had passed. All I could keep track of were how many times Kieran visited. I guessed he came once a day, but that was just a guess. Based on that guess, it was four months before anything new happened.

Rose snuck down to me one day with an entire dinner. Reem kept guard while she slipped the plate of food into my cell. I didn’t even pay attention to what was on it, but devoured it like a starving animal, which I essentially was by that point. I did still remember to bow to her in thanks before I began gobbling the offered food.

Rose sat on the ground outside of my cell. “Just hold on for a couple more days,” she told me. “Pretend to be tamed, to have learned your lesson and Master Kieran will let you out. Things aren’t going well with the baby. Healer and I have been insisting to him that she needs her mother.”

I felt my hope swell. I could get out of this hellhole. I just had to survive a couple more days. My hope faltered when I remembered that she said something was wrong with the baby, with my daughter. I paused my eating and looked up at her. I cradled my arms, rocked them back and forth like I was holding a baby, trying to sign ‘baby’ to her, trying to question what was wrong with my daughter.

Rose nodded and sighed. “She’s not doing well. She’s barely eating and isn’t growing. Healer is concerned about her health and safety. She’s not thriving at all. All she does is cry all day and night. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kieran lets you out today to see if you can get her to stop crying.”

“Someone’s coming!” Reem hissed from the doorway. I shoved the rest of the food into my mouth and slid the plate back to Rose.

“We’ll see you soon,” Rose promised. She jumped to her feet and she and Reem rushed from the room before they were caught. I hoped they wouldn’t get caught. I didn’t want them hurt, but I also knew if they were caught my limited food supply would run dry. I hated that my thoughts were so selfish, but I also knew I was trapped in a survival situation and had to take whatever I could to survive.

The door crashed open and I looked up to see Kieran sweep in. I fell to my knees, offering my wrists to him, taking Rose’s advice on how to get out of this dungeon. I didn’t know how I felt about my daughter. I was supposed to love her, but at the very least I knew I had to try to protect her. She was even more helpless to Kieran than I was.

Kieran sneered down at me. “So, you’ve finally remembered your place,” he commented. I didn’t move or make any kind of acknowledgement of his words. I knew what he wanted after four years in his service and knew how to play this game, how to pretend to be cowed. He unlocked the door to my cell. “Come,” he ordered. I scrambled to my feet and followed behind him at the appropriate distance. He led me back up to his own suite. I could hear the baby screaming from the floor below.

Once we were in the room, he grabbed me by the throat and held me in front of him, forcing me to look in his eyes. “Make it stop crying and get it to eat or I will throw you in the smallest most miserable dank cell I can find for the rest of your life.” I lowered my eyes, fighting to breathe from the grip he had on my throat. He threw me into the room and I crashed into the wall next to the baby’s crib. He took the orb with my voice trapped in it from around his neck and smashed it on the floor. My voice was finally back. “Do whatever it takes,” he snarled at me and turned, slamming the door behind him.

“Ow,” I moaned, pushing myself off of the wall. I grinned for a moment, ecstatic to hear my voice again for the first time in years. It was rough with disuse, but it was there and it was mine. I moved from the wall to the crib where the baby was still wailing. I reached down to pick her up. I knew nothing about babies, but she hiccuped and stopped screaming when I picked her up. I knew who the father was instantly, the hair that she had was white and black striped. Her father had to be Reem.

“Hey sweetie,” I said to her softly. “What’s wrong?” I asked and cooed at her. There was a bottle next to the crib. I tried offering it to her, but she refused. She was so tiny, I didn’t know how she was alive. I finally decided to offer her my breast. I didn’t know how breastfeeding was supposed to work, but we both finally figure it out and I was glad she was finally fed. I sat on the floor with her, cuddling her in my arms. We fell asleep like that, sitting propped between the wall and her crib.

The baby grew ridiculously fast after that day. I couldn’t believe the changes in her. I had a pallet on the floor in Kieran’s suite after that and my sole responsibility was taking care of the baby. I resented her more than I loved her, but she was my ticket out of the dungeon and was keeping me safe, for now. I also knew that the more she grew, the more I knew I was in danger.

I knew I was doomed the day Kieran took blood from the baby for the first time, instead of taking blood from me that day. I spent the rest of the day crying with her. I didn’t know if I was crying for her pain, or crying for my inevitable death. Kieran had made it a point to let me know that I was useless to him once she was big enough to take blood from. She was still too little for everyday bloodletting. I still had a little time.

I had to plan my escape soon.

Things went downhill when Kieran drunkenly announced one night that I was to attend dinner with him and his friends. I served the dinner, wondering what was going on. I’d barely left his suite in ages, constantly taking care of the baby. I still remembered how to properly serve a party, though. Reem and Rose were both serving too, most of the slaves had been called in to help. Kieran had said this was a dinner, but it was a giant party instead.

After dinner and drinks and a stupid amount of dancing, Kieran clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “It’s time for the games to begin!” He announced. There were cheers from the crowd. “Let us have a Hunt!” There were more cheers from the vampires. “Hmm, now who should be the participants?” he mock asked. I didn’t know what this Hunt would entail, but I knew that whatever it was, I was going to be included in whatever stupid game Kieran had planned. Kieran and some of the other vampires came through the crowd, picking slaves to participate. I wasn’t surprised at all when Kieran picked me and Reem to participate. Some of the other vampires donated one of their own slaves to participate as well. As he was leading me to the others chosen for this game, he ran a hand over the glyph on my hand. It glowed for a moment before fading to black. I could tell it was deactivated. “To give you a fair chance,” Kieran explained.

Kieran lined us up against one wall. “The rules of the Hunt are simple. You will run. If you can evade us until dawn, you are free, never to be a vampire’s slave again,” he told us. I felt my eyes light up. We could be free? There was a chance to escape? I would do anything to get out of my requirements to serve Kieran for my friends’ freedom. Anything. This seemed like a dream come true. Two of the vampires opened the patio doors. “You get a five minute head start, starting now,” Kieran announced.

After a moment of shock, Reem grabbed my hand and started dragging me through the patio doors into the woods. My own shock wore off, and I started running in earnest. We had to get as far away from the manor as possible before the five minute head start was up. I didn’t have the strength to run. I was still too weak and abused, but I forced my abused body to run anyway. “We have to keep moving,” Reem whispered. I was gasping for air with a stitch in my side and bloody feet from running barefoot through the woods. We hadn’t been quiet through our run. Reem led me away from the trail we had created through the woods and we made our way more carefully and quietly. Reem seemed to know where he was going and I trusted his judgement, so I followed him through the woods.

I heard the howl of wolves. Reem heard them too and stiffened. He looked around frantically and finally found what he was looking for. “This way, princess,” he whispered. He led me further into the woods, deeper into the trees. We heard horses and wolves and he sped up our trek. I was stumbling, too exhausted to run, and cramping too much to really keep walking. Reem turned when he realized I was slowing. He cursed and ran back over to me. “Tuck in your wings,” he ordered. I pulled them in tight against my body and Reem swept me up into his arms.

“You can’t carry me until dawn!” I protested. I could barely talk I was breathing so heavily.

“I won’t have to,” he reassured me. I didn’t know what he was planning, but I trusted him. He swore he loved me, so it must be true, right? He stopped walking when we were deep in the woods. He effortlessly tossed me up into the biggest strongest tree he could find. I made a small noise, years of training to keep quiet stifling my reaction to scream at being tossed. I grabbed onto a branch before I fell and hauled myself onto it. “Climb until you can’t see me,” he told me. I did as he asked, managing to climb purely because of my claws and cat reflexes. It didn’t take long before I couldn’t see him through the leaves of the tree. We heard the howls coming closer. “I love you, princess,” Reem said softly. Before I knew what he was doing, I heard noises of foliage moving back the way we had come.

“Reem, no!” I tried to call out to him, but my voice was too hoarse to manage it. He didn’t stop and I didn’t dare climb down from the tree I was hiding in. Reem was following our own trail back. I heard him start running in a different direction. He was leading the Hunt away from my hiding spot. I couldn’t help loving him in that moment. He was making too much noise, making an obvious trail, purposely drawing them away.

I should have gone down to help him, but I was too weak and knew that I would just be a hindrance, so I hid, cowering in the tree where he had hidden me, praying that Kieran wouldn’t find me.

It felt like forever, but I knew it couldn’t have been more than an hour when I heard the horses and wolves come near my hiding spot. I could just see them through the trees. I didn’t know why the vampires were hunting on horseback. They were much faster running than they were on horses. Maybe they just wanted the challenge. They were heading back towards the manor, dragging a struggling Reem behind them. I had to shove my fist in my mouth to keep from shouting out to him. There was nothing I could do to help him.

“Where’s the girl?” Kieran snarled at Reem. “I know you hid her somewhere.” Reem refused to answer and I couldn’t help feeling terrible for letting him leave me safe. I felt like a coward for not helping.

I stayed hidden, eventually dozing off in the safety of my tree. It was nearly dawn when I heard the wolves and horses again. I stiffened, trying not to breathe as they came close to my hiding spot. I prayed they wouldn’t find me.

My prayers went unanswered. Kieran leapt gracefully into the tree and dragged me out by my ankle before I could even try to move or flee. I struggled, trying to grab branches to keep myself in the tree. It was almost dawn. I had almost been free. Kieran yanked harder and I came crashing out of the tree, landing so hard I was winded and dazed. I was too dazed to fight back as he threw me over the saddle of his horse. He mounted behind me and held me effortlessly, lying awkwardly across the horse’s back, crying softly at my failed escape.


	36. Now

I tried fighting to remember more. I still didn’t know what happened to my daughter. I didn’t even know her name. I had to find out more. I felt so weak and exhausted, though, too weak to break down more barriers of my memory. I tried anyway. “No! Adi!” I heard Hunter yell. I couldn’t tell if it was his real voice or his mental voice, but the effect was the same. He stopped my efforts to break open more of my memories. I felt him wrap around my mental self and drag me kicking and fighting back to my real body.

“Adi, you can’t!” I blinked and finally took in that we were back in my room. I shook my head, trying to clear it. “If you were any other apprentice mage, I would bind your magic for a month for that stunt,” he snarled at me. I shrank back away from him, unsure what I had done wrong.

“What stunt?” I croaked out through a sore voice. I realized then that all of my magical attributes were gone. My unicorn horn, cat ears, tail, wings, all gone. I reached for them and couldn’t summon them back. I reached for any of my magic frantically, trying to find even a spark of it. I only found the tiniest spark, deep in my core. It was weak and flickering.

“You almost broke yourself. Had you used even a _drop_ more magic, you would have lost all of your power forever,” Hunter explained. I could tell he was trying to force himself to be calm. “You can’t be that reckless with your magic.” He shook his head frustrated. “I’m used to teaching children. They don’t have the ability to tap enough of their power to be a danger to themselves. By the time most mages do, they’ve learned enough control to know how much they can use without danger.” He pulled me into his arms, holding me too tightly. “Thank God you’re ok. Please don’t scare me like that again.” He held me for a moment longer before he let me go, knowing my past and being respectful of it and my aversion to being touched. “I’ll talk to Maester Wright so we can create a tool to help you until you’ve learned more control,” he promised. “You won’t be able to use any magic until at least tomorrow afternoon,”

“I’m sorry for scaring you,” I told him. I hadn’t meant to. I just wanted more answers. “Do you know what happened to her?” I asked. I had to be sure, and I knew he wouldn't lie to me, not about this. He shook his head, looking sad.

“I’d tell you if I did,” he promised. “Maester Wright has been informed about her. He’s going to let us know if he hears anything or finds out anything about what happened to her.” I nodded and he continued. “He wants us to have dinner at the cafeteria in the boy’s dorm. He didn’t say why. Are you up to it? I can cancel for you if you’re not feeling strong enough...”

“I’ll be ok,” I replied. “If it weren't important, he wouldn’t say he wanted us there.” More importantly, he wouldn’t have included me. He’d keep me locked up safely in my safehouse with my werewolf boyfriend and unicorn and vampire guards.

Hunter nodded and gave me a small smile. “I’ll leave you to get ready,” he kissed my forehead where my unicorn horn usually was. I gave him a smile in return, feeling giddy at the unaccustomed feeling of love. He left to get dressed for dinner and I closed my door behind him so I could get dressed too. This was a formal occasion, so I put on one of my uniforms. I had a feeling of apprehension about this dinner. Something big was going on. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what it was.

I met Hunter at the front door. He was waiting for me when I got there. Bree was waiting too. “Ready?” he asked. I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure I was actually ready. He opened the door for me. I smiled and stepped out into the sunlight, glad the days were getting longer. I could enjoy more sun.

My enjoyment was broken when I heard an alarm blaring across campus. “All students are to report to the auditorium. Repeat: this is a mandatory assembly. All students are to report to the auditorium immediately.”

“What’s going on?” I asked Hunter. He shook his head.

“I don’t know. All I know is that we’re not supposed to go to the auditorium. Maester Wright is having his own assembly for the mage students, and anyone magical. I hope he’ll tell us what’s really going on.” Hunter offered me his hand and I took it gratefully. We walked hand-in-hand to the boy’s dorm and to the cafeteria. Hunter didn’t drop my hand even when he got a couple of jeers from his classmates. I blushed and held on to his arm, shy at the attention we were getting. I realized from all that attention how popular Hunter was. It made sense, he was attractive, athletic, and kind. Of course he’d be popular.

The cafeteria was nearly full when we got there. All of the magical students both male and female were gathered here to hear what Maester Wright had to tell us. We took seats next to Carl and Paige. I noticed that Michael was missing from the assembly here. “Michael’s at the main assembly,” Paige explained, noticing my searching gaze. “He doesn't have any magic so he’s not invited to this meeting.” I nodded and relaxed. I hadn’t really wanted to see Michael. What he did wasn’t his fault, but I still couldn’t say I was comfortable around him.

A minute later, Maester Wright entered the room and took his usual place behind the podium. Silence fell over the room immediately as everyone turned intently to hear what he had to say. Something big and important was happening for everyone to be gathered like this. “As you are all aware, there is an assembly going on in the auditorium for the nonmagical students. They are being informed of new increased security due to a few female students going missing over the past few nights. This is true and there is increased security. No student is to go out after dark alone. Patrols for vampires will include at least two senior hunters or mages of equivalent status. No apprentices will be allowed to hunt for their own safety. They will be guarding the dormitory while the seniors are patrolling,” there were some groans from the apprentices. Maester Wright ignored them.

“I also hate to say this, but there is a pattern of girls being targeted. They aren’t random, like the nonmagical students are being told. Only redheaded females are being targeted,” I felt eyes turn to me and I tried to duck down to make myself less noticeable. “We know they are targeting one student here. I will tell you her story before I make my request.

The student they are targeting is the daughter of two vampires, daughter of their previous king and queen. She is also the Child of Dreams, the Daughter of the Prophecy, Dreams Come to Life. Each of your cultures has a term for what she is, and what she will mean to you. I tell you now: She. Has. Come. And we must protect her now. The current King of the Vampires is after her. That is why he is stealing the red haired girls from our campus. He knows that she is here and he wants to get her back. We cannot allow that to happen.” There were cheers from the crowd. I was surrounded by support and encouragement.

“What I ask is dangerous. I do not ask it lightly.” Maester Wright paused, making sure everyone in the room understood. “I ask any of the females here who can to take up disguises, act as bait so we can fight off these invaders and keep our precious dream safe. I will not force anyone to fight, but I will gladly accept help from any of you who are willing.”

This wasn’t right. I couldn’t just let them put themselves on the line for me. I stood then. I shook off Hunter, who tried to keep me in my seat. I made my way up to the front where Maester Wright was, determinedly ignoring the stares from the gathered students. I felt for my magic and was relieved that there was more than the tiny spark I had left earlier. It was coming back faster than it should have. There still wasn’t much, but there was enough for what I needed at the moment.

When I reached the podium, I shifted forms in front of all of them. It only took a tiny seed of power. This is what I was. I heard the gasp from the crowd. They hadn’t expected this. I knew they had a right to know what I was and who I was before Maester Wright asked them to put themselves in danger on my behalf.

I felt the weight of my unicorn horn. My cat ears, wings, and wolf tail returned. For once I did not feel like a freak appearing in such a strange form. I knew some of them would not accept me, but I also knew that most would.

“Kieran is after me,” I told Maester Wright, loudly enough to be heard by the entire crowd. I turned to the crowd then. “I do not ask you to fight for me. I will ask that you protect yourselves, protect those here who cannot protect themselves.” I looked back at Maester Wright. “I know you will not approve, but I will not allow you to stop me. I will not allow you to use other girls as bait while I hide in the safety of the manor. I will not. Any of them can volunteer to act as bait to protect the nonmagical girls on campus from being taken. The girls here can protect themselves, and will have backup, the nonmagical girls would not and I can see the logic behind that decision. However, I _will_ be out there on patrol too. I won’t ask _anyone_ to do something that I am unwilling to do myself. Maester Wright, I will allow you to make the arrangements for the safety of all of us who will be on this patrol.” My bravery was fading. I hadn’t ever stood in front of a crowd like this. Hadn’t told anyone, especially someone older with me with more power what to do. I had known I had to though. I couldn’t let these girls do something that I wasn’t willing to do. I couldn’t let them put themselves in danger while I was safe.

“I will gladly help anyone who wishes for help with their disguises at the manor.” I told the crowd. “I thank you in advance for your aid in protecting the rest of the students on campus.” I bowed to them deeply. I heard chairs move and when I rose, I saw that all of the students were bowing to me as well. Before they could say anymore, or Maester Wright could protest, I left the room to head back to the manor, glad to escape from the attention of so many people.

I waited right outside the door, knowing Hunter would follow as soon as he was able. I wasn’t disappointed. “Maester Wright is pissed at you,” he informed me when he saw me. I nodded.

“I figured, but I couldn’t let them volunteer while I hid in the manor,” I told him. He nodded.

“I understand.” He took my hand in his. “I wouldn’t expect anything else from you. Maester Wright should never have made that announcement if he didn’t want you to volunteer,” he chuckled, “though I think he was expecting to be able to tell you ‘no’. After the speech you gave, he won’t be able to do that.” We laughed all the way back to the manor.

I helped Hunter make us something for dinner, and we ate in the downstairs livingroom, waiting for the girls who wanted to volunteer and who wanted my help to join us. “Hunter, how did you rescue me?” I asked him while we were eating. He looked over at me, surprised by the question.

“I know you don’t remember yet. I saw you while you were out on one of Kieran’s hunts. I was looking for my sister. I saw you and thought you were her for an instant,” he explained. I saw the hurt in his eyes for a moment before he hid it again. “We made arrangements that I would get you away from Kieran during the next hunt,”

I nodded and we went back to our dinner. I wondered if any of the girls would volunteer or if I would be out as bait by myself.  
  



	37. Then

“Do you want to see the day we met?” Hunter asked me, while we sat waiting for any of the volunteers to show up. “I know you don’t remember yet...”

I nodded. “Of course!” I told him. I was desperate for any information I could get about my past. Hunter knew some of it and I was dying for him to share it with me. He nodded and offered me his hand. I took it and felt myself pulled into his mind, into his memories. He paused for a moment once I had joined him in his mind. I saw how well organized his mind was.

He chuckled. “Mages have to keep their minds organized,” he reminded me. I nodded. He led me over to a doorway in his mind. “The memory is over here. Are you ready?” he asked. I nodded again. He took my hand and walked through the doorway with him.

The memories flooded over me, trying to sweep me away. I clutched to Hunter to keep from getting lost. His memories triggered mine. It was hard to tell his memories from my own. I watched the sea around us, trying to put the memories in order.

It was the night of another hunt. I couldn’t remember how far after the first hunt it was. It felt like a long time afterwards. I was waiting at the big rock for Reem to meet up with me. We always took different trails after that first hunt and met up here, far from the manor. I waited anxiously for him to arrive. He was taking a longer route than me tonight. He did most of the hunts. I hugged him when he finally arrived, whispering about how worried I was that he had been caught.

I heard a noise behind us and we both whirled to face the newcomer. We thought it was another slave at first, until I saw Hunter. I didn’t recognize him then, just because I’d had a couple classes with him four years ago, didn’t mean that I recognized him now. I saw the flash of hope, the flash of almost recognition, quickly squashed again.

From Hunter’s point of view, I saw the memory of seeing me in the woods. He had come here looking for his sister. For a brief moment, when he saw the red hair curling down my back, and the wolf’s tail he had thought I was Lily, until I turned and he saw the unicorn horn. He knew there was no way Lily could have a unicorn horn. It wasn’t possible. The next moment he knew who and what I was. He held up his hands and dropped his wooden stake, trying to reassure us that he wouldn’t hurt us. “It’s ok, I’m not going to hurt you,” he told us.

Reem snarled at Hunter, shoving me behind him to protect me. “Who are you?” Reem growled.

“I’m a vampire hunter. I’m looking for the leech who kidnapped my sister,” Hunter explained calmly. I peeked out from behind Reem to look over this man who claimed to hunt vampires. Reem instantly relaxed, though.

“Which vampire?” Reem asked him.

“Kieran,” came the short reply from Hunter in a snarl. Reem nodded and pointed back the way we came.

“Kieran is currently living in the mansion back that way. I wouldn’t try to find him tonight, though. He’s having a hunt for entertainment. I don’t know where he is, but he’s after us,” Reem explained. “What’s your sister’s name?”

“Her name is Lily. Can I show you her picture?” Hunter asked. Reem nodded curtly. Hunter reached slowly into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He pulled out the picture of himself and Lily and showed it to Reem. “Have you seen her?” Reem nodded.

“Kieran calls her Rose. She’s at the mansion.” The look of relief and hope filled Hunter’s eyes again. Reem looked over Hunter again, appraising him.

“We don’t have a lot of time. Kieran will catch up with us soon. I have a proposition for you though.” Reem looked over at me. He pulled me out from behind him. I made a small noise, wanting to hide behind my protector. “This is Adianna. I’m sure you can recognize who she is, can’t you, wolf?” he asked Hunter, who nodded curtly. I saw an emotion flash through Hunter’s eyes. I couldn’t quite place it. I thought now, looking back, that it was a seed of love or at least caring. “You know why we need to get her away from Kieran and we need to do it soon. He’s going to kill her.”

“What’s your proposition?” Hunter asked. He wanted to grab me then and run, get me away from Kieran as soon as possible. He also didn't want to lose the chance to get Lily out of here, now that he finally had a clue on where to find her and how to help her.

“Get Adianna out of here during the next hunt. Keep her safe. I’ll see that Rose is kept safe for you, until you can come back to get her,” Reem told Hunter. “Kieran never lets her out on the hunts, and once Adi is gone, he’ll stop the hunts entirely. She’ll be in the mansion, and so will he. We’ll help you kill him, just get Adi away from here first.”

Hunter nodded. “Why not tonight?” He asked Reem. He trusted Reem’s judgment on this, since Reem knew the vampire better than Hunter did. Reem shook his head.

“There are too many vampires and they’re heading this way. You’d never get her away. We’ll lead them away tonight and I’ll make sure Adi is here next hunt.” He pricked his ears. “We have to go, c’mon Adi.” He turned to Hunter. “Keep your word, wolf,” he snarled, an implicit threat to Lily in Reem’s words. Reem grabbed my hand and dragged me back the way he had come.

“I’ll come back for you,” Hunter promised me. I could tell, somehow, that he was making that promise just to me, not to Reem. I heard the caring and gentleness in his voice. He slipped back into the woods before he was found by the vampire hunting parties. He would come back here every night until there was another hunt, until he could get me out of here. I was the dream of the wolves and I had come. He knew me from the moment he laid eyes on me in my true form. He wasn’t going to let me die.  
  
  
  



	38. Now

Hunter broke off the connection when there was a knock on the door. He got up to answer it and I followed behind him, despite his order to “Stay here.” He grumbled at me about stubborn girls who couldn’t listen when he saw me following him anyway, but I could tell that he was pleased that I had disobeyed his order.  It was an improvement.

There was a group of about ten girls standing on our front porch. I smiled at them. “We’ve come to volunteer,” the eldest of them announced. I pulled the door open all the way, despite Hunter’s sputtering protests that _he_ was supposed to do that.

“Thank you! Come in!” I bid the girls. I led them to our livingroom and they spread out on couches around the room.

“Where are your hunting partners?” Hunter asked them, concerned that they had come over here alone to play bait.

“The boyos are meeting us here in a little bit. Maester Wright is giving them their patrol assignments. They also said they knew you well enough to disguise themselves,” one of them explained.

The girls all gave me their names, but as there was so many of them, I knew I wasn’t going to remember any of them. “It’s an honor to help you, anything to help our Dream.” The eldest of them, Monica, told me. She seemed to be their spokesperson. I would have to get more details on why they kept calling me a Dream come true. I was just a normalish teenage girl... ok, even I knew that wasn’t true, but I still needed to find out what all of this prophecy nonsense was about.

I spent over an hour helping the girls with their disguises. They didn't want to look exactly like me, but we wanted it to be close enough that the vampires wouldn’t know the difference until they got close. It was made easier as all of the girls were mages and could change their appearance with magic.

The boyos arrived just as we were finishing up. “How’d we do?” Monica asked her hunting partners. There were two boys for each of the girls who had volunteered.

“Looks good enough to get them close,” the boy grinned with a malicious gleam in his eye. “At which time we kill them.” The girls all gave me hugs before they left, while they were waiting for one of their partners to shift into werewolf form.

“Each party is going out with a Hunter disguise and a Carl disguise,” one of the girls explained as I watched the transformations. “You’re going out with the real Hunter and Carl. Maester Wright set the plan,”

“Carl’s on his way over,” Hunter added, catching my eye as I scanned the crowd for Carl. I nodded and turned to address the volunteers.

“Be careful out there. I don’t want anyone to get hurt on my behalf,” I told them firmly. “None of us will think any less of you if you back out,” I added. I wasn’t going to force them to volunteer. Unsurprisingly, none of them took me up on my offer to back out. They all left for their patrol routes when Carl arrived, already in wolf form. He padded up to me and rubbed himself against me, begging for pets. I obliged him, scratching behind his ears.

Hunter was busy arming himself to the teeth. He came back to me holding two items. “If anything happens, your orders are to run back here. Don’t try to fight them. However, if we get in a bad enough bind, I at least want you to have something to protect yourself with,” he handed me the two things he had been carrying: a wooden stake and a cross.

“Crosses work?” I asked him. He nodded.

“It depends on the faith of the person holding it. Any holy symbol will work as long as the person believes it will work. It also has to be used with intent. A vampire just touching a cross won’t do anything, unless someone is wielding it against them,” Hunter explained. I nodded. I hadn’t recalled seeing any crosses when I was with Kieran, which made sense if they could be used against him. I put both the cross and the stake in my skirt pockets. I hated that I was going out hunting in my uniform, but all of the other girls were too and we wanted to be identical at a distance. “Maester Wright assigned us to patrol around the manor. It will probably be quiet as all of the other groups are patrolling the edges of campus.”

Anger flared up in me that Maester Wright was trying to keep me safe instead of letting us hunt like the others. I couldn’t argue with him though, and I could tell that while Hunter was upset he wasn’t out there really helping, he was glad that I would be safer in the middle of campus.

“Shall we?” Hunter asked. I nodded and the three of us left the house to begin our patrol.

Our route took us around the academic buildings, staying fairly close to the house. For the most part, it was as uneventful as Hunter had imagined. I tried not to worry as we walked, sure that the volunteers could take care of themselves if anything happened.

I wasn’t expecting the group of vampires who surrounded us. I wasn’t expecting them to be able to sneak past all the patrols and find us. “This is the right one,” one of them said as he looked our group over. Hunter, Carl, and I were all back-to-back, watching the circle of vampires around us.

 _There’s too many of them._ Hunter told us. I knew that was an understatement. We were surrounded and there were more coming. /I’ve called for help. I’ll create a distraction, Carl, get Adi out of here/

/No, Hunter!/I had gleaned his plan from the emotions that came with his message. He was staying behind to hold them off while Carl got me out of here.

“Hand over the girl,” one of the vampires ordered.

/Run, Adi,I can hold them until help arrives/ Hunter ordered, his tone leaving no option for disobedience.

“No. She’s not going back with you,” Hunter replied. A bow appeared in his hands.

/You run. I’ll stay with Hunter until help arrives/ Carl added.

“Get the girl. Kill the others,” the vampire who spoke earlier told his companions. I noticed that one of them was signing the instruction to one of the others in their company. I wondered briefly why they would bring a deaf vampire with them.

“No! Stop!” I yelled at them as they started to rush towards us, instinct taking over. I don’t know why I did it. I knew even less why it worked. They all stopped in their tracks, stopping midmovement. Except the deaf one.

“Run!” Hunter ordered me. I finally did as I was told when he wouldn’t be outnumbered so poorly. He could handle one vampire, especially between him and Carl. I turned and ran, taking the most direct route back to the house.

I saw the vampires twitching as I ran past them. I hoped my order wasn’t wearing off. I didn’t know how it had worked in the first place, much less how long it would last. I ran anyway, praying that Hunter and Carl would be right behind me.

I made it back to the house and burst inside to find Sebastian and Larissa waiting for me. “Where are Hunter and Carl?” Sebastian demanded.

“Vampires!” I huffed, trying to catch my breath. “We were surrounded. They stayed behind to hold them off. Please, help them,” I begged my friends. Hunter would kill me if I put myself back in danger by going back out there untrained, but I could send him more help.

Larissa rushed right out of the house to help. Sebastian looked me over, weighing his options. “I will aid Hunter, but only if I can be sure you will be safe. Once I leave, lock the door and barricade yourself in your room until we return,”

“I will. Please go help,” I begged him. He summoned a sword and disappeared out the door, following Larissa. I closed the door behind him and locked it. I felt the shields Maester Wright had installed in the house activate when I did. I went up to my room to wait, praying that my friends would be ok.

It felt like hours before I heard the downstairs door open. Still, I waited. It could be a trap. Vampires could have gotten in somehow. Sebastian knocked on my bedroom door. “Princess?” he asked. I cracked the door open, and opened it all he way when I verified it was him.

“What happened? Where are the others?” I asked. I was sure Hunter and Carl would have run up here the second the battle was over. Sebastian shook his head.

“The vampires took them. They had killed some of them, but there were too many. We got there too late.” I could barely comprehend what he was saying. I couldn’t believe that Hunter had been taken by the vampires. “He’s gone, princess.”

The vampires had taken Hunter. I had to go save him. I had to go save him now.


	39. Then

My distress at the news of Hunter’s abduction swept me back into memories of Kieran.

Thankfully, Kieran hadn’t found out about out about our run in with Hunter in the woods. As soon as we were freed from service for the evening, Reem and I met up with Rose and told her about the meeting with Hunter. 

“You saw him?” she asked softly, disbelief written clearly on her face. We nodded. 

“He’s coming to get you,” I told her softly. We were hiding down in the kitchens, as far away from prying ears as we could get. Kieran hadn’t taken my voice again yet.

“He’s coming after the next hunt,” Reem told her. I saw her hope and the relief in her eyes. 

“He finally found me,” she breathed.

“But we have to act like everything is normal until after the next hunt,” Reem reminded her firmly. “We can’t let Kieran get even a whiff that there’s something going on.” We all nodded and split back up before we were noticed as missing.

The next couple of days passed with no incident, though I spent the entire time worried about my daughter. I knew I would never be able to sneak her out of the mansion. Kieran his room too well guarded. They would notice me leaving with her. I couldn’t just leave her to be tortured her entire life by Kieran, either. I didn’t know what to do or how to help her. I had to find some way to save her from her future. I spent every waking moment trying to figure out what to do for her. 

Kieran finally got restless at the monotony of his days and decided to have another hunt. Reem and I had our plan ready for the hunt. Kieran went through his usual announcements, and I spent the time going over and over my plan. I only had one chance, I had to do this right. This was my only chance to escape and have it be by Kieran’s rules. If I left on Kieran’s terms, then my friends were safe.

“Let the hunt begin!” Kieran announced. Reem and I went running in different directions. We had planned to meet up in the woods soon after the hunt began. 

I hadn’t told Reem my plan for my daughter. I couldn’t tell anyone or risk getting caught. I had to save her, and this was the only way. I ducked into the woods and started circling around to one of the side entrances to the mansion. No one would expect the hunted to come back, so I was fairly safe. I snuck into the mansion. I knew the layout and the best way to get to Kieran’s suite. I walked past the other servants with my usual demeanor, knowing that if I acted like I was where I supposed to be, the servants wouldn’t question me. I knew that they would question me leaving the room with my daughter, though. She wasn’t supposed to leave the room. I entered Kieran’s room and closed the door firmly behind me. 

It took everything I had to go to where my daughter was sleeping in her cradle. I looked her over, trying to feel anything. I cared, but she didn’t even feel like my daughter. She was a child born of pain and had caused me nothing but pain since her birth. Even so, I couldn’t leave her here to be tortured. She was still a life.

“I’m sorry, Hope,” I whispered, finally giving her a name, tears in my eyes and spilling down my cheeks. “This is the only way. I can’t protect you. I can’t love you. I can’t take you with me,” I whispered the words. It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough, but it was all I had to give her. 

This was the only way. 

I was running out of time. I had to hurry before someone came in here to check on her. I took the decorative pillow from where I had hidden it next to her crib earlier that day. “I’m sorry,” I told her again. “But I can’t leave you here to be tortured by him. This isn’t a life for anyone.” 

I fought with myself. I didn’t want to risk my own escape to save her. I couldn’t leave her here, but I couldn’t bring myself to kill her, even if it would save her. She hadn’t even gotten a chance to live. So I did the only thing I could do and still live with myself. I threw the pillow aside and picked her up in my arms. I cradled her to my chest, praying she would stay silent. I went to the window and leapt off of Kieran’s balcony, using my wings to slow my descent and keep close to the wall where I wouldn’t be seen. I started running the second I hit the ground. I had to make up time to make it to the meeting place with Reem. 

I begged she would remain silent. That was the only way the two of us were escaping this hell.


	40. Now

“I have to go see Maester Wright,” I told Sebastian. We had to figure out how to get Hunter and Carl back from Kieran. I couldn’t lose any time. I tried to leave my room, but Sebastian was blocking the door.

“No, it is way too dangerous out there. There are still vampires all over the place looking for you.”

“I don’t care!” I yelled at him. “He can’t have Hunter and Carl!” I tried to push past him. Sebastian held me by my arms, his hands still gloved.

“My duty is to protect you. If I have to lock you in the safe room until sunrise to keep you safe, I will. Those two gave themselves up to keep you safe. You are not putting that into jeopardy.” I knew there was no getting around him. I would have to plan on my own.

“Fine. I’ll see him in the morning then,” I told him firmly. I had no intention of staying here until morning, though. Sebastian looked at me as though he didn’t believe me.

“I’ll be keeping guard downstairs,” he told me. He finally left my room and I closed and locked my door behind him. I couldn’t be distracted. I had to come up with a plan. I knew the horrors that Kieran could inflict on them. I couldn’t leave them with him. They’d already been with him too long, and they’d only been with him for an hour or two.

Unfortunately, there was only one chip I had to play to get them freed. We couldn’t kill all of the vampires. There were too many and Kieran was too strong. Maester Wright would probably just leave them there to be tortured or worse by Kieran. He would know we couldn’t fight against all of those vampires. Hunter and Carl were also going to be in the most secure part of Kieran’s mansion. There would be no way to sneak and, get them, and sneak out undetected.

There was only one option. I had to go back there and get them back myself. I was the only thing Kieran would trade them for. Maester Wright would never let me do it, so I had to now while he thought I was safely locked in the house.

I tried not to think too much about what I was about to do. It was stupid and suicidal, but it needed to be done, and it had to be done now. So I used magic to change my clothes so I was wearing a slip that looked identical to the one I had worn the night I escaped. I hoped I still looked injured and frail enough to make the rest of my act look convincing. I unbandaged my arm and made sure I left all traces of my new life behind. I unlocked my window and slipped out of it onto the porch roof. I walked around the porch and found an unguarded spot to jump down to the ground. The campus was on lockdown, so there was no one to see me as I snuck from the campus and started walking in the direction of Kieran’s mansion.

Under the burn marks, the purple glyph on my arm was glowing. I knew the vampires would find me soon. I waited for them once I was safely outside the confines of the campus boundaries. I wandered aimlessly, trying to look lost and confused.

It wasn’t long before two vampires came up to me. “Look, it’s Kieran’s lost pet,” one of them said. I purposely turned away from them, trying to look like I was going to run. “No, pet, don’t run. You got lost, didn’t you?”

I looked at the vampires and tried to be convincing. “Master Kieran’s house got lost,” I told them, trying to sound lost and confused. “I don’t know where it went. Master Kieran is going to be so mad at me for letting the house get lost.” I whined the last words, trying to be convincing.

“Come with us. We’ll help you find the house again,” one of them told me. “We have a car right over there.” He pointed to the street.

“Let’s use her before we give her back,” the other one said. The first snarled.

“No way. This one’s Kieran’s. We take it back and get the reward. That is it. And we don’t touch it. You know how Kieran is.” He turned to me then. “C’mon sweetling, let’s go find that house,”

I knew I was making a huge mistake when I made this stupid plan in the first place, but I also knew this was the only way to save my friends. So I meekly agreed to go with the vampires, back to the place I had spent four awful years of my life.


	41. Then

I met Reem in the woods. “What took you?” he hissed, unreasonably angry with me. He then saw the bundle in my arms. “You didn’t,” he hissed. I shrank back from his anger. “Moron. You should have left her.” I shook my head.

“I couldn’t,” I told him simply. He grumbled, but grabbed my hand.

“If she makes one sound we’re all dead,” Reem told me. I nodded and clutched my bundle more tightly to my chest. She had remained quiet so far. I hoped she would continue to do so. We ran for awhile. I was slowed down by my burden. Reem soundlessly took her from me. “Keep up,” he hissed.

It was then that the baby started howling. “Shut up!” he shouted at her. I tried to take her back so I could calm her, but Reem shoved me away.

“Let me try!” I insisted, trying to take her back from him. I stepped toward him, reaching for the baby. He shoved me away harder, throwing me to the ground. I fell hard and my head hit a rock on the path, drawing blood. Reem cursed when he smelled the blood.

“I told you that you should have left her,” he growled at me. He strode away from me with the baby. I tried to follow him, but I was too stunned. I heard the baby’s shrieks and heard him spash into some water, a nearby stream or creek. Again, I tried to get up, to follow, to do something besides lie on the ground, bleeding and stunned. I couldn’t stand. I tried to crawl to where they were, I tried everything, but I just couldn’t, not until my head cleared.

Reem came back a couple minutes later, right as I was struggling to my feet, using a tree for support. He was alone. “Where’s the baby?” I asked him, still dizzy and my ears were ringing.

“Dead,” he said simply. My stomach dropped.

“Dead?” I asked, so horrified that I couldn’t even comprehend it.

“Dead. I was going to do it when I got back to the mansion, but your stupidity made me do it now. You can’t have her around. Kieran gets to keep his power if he has her. With you free and her dead, he loses all claim to the throne. We’ll all be free,” Reem hissed. “I killed her for all of us, now let’s go.” He grabbed my wrist, holding me more firmly than necessary, nearly crushing the bones with his shifter strength.

We were running out of time before the vampires, or the werewolves running with them tonight, found us. We ran for awhile, then hid among the branches of a tree for a rest. It was almost dawn before we moved to where we were meeting with Hunter.

I heard the wolves chasing us as we ran. They were getting too close. They would catch us if we couldn't find a way to move faster. If we could hear them, they could most certainly hear us.

The forest was silent around us as we tore our way desperately through the trees, over roots. We needed to hide our trail better, but the need for speed was more important. I tried to ignore the sharp rocks as I ran over them barefoot. We had to keep moving. We had to escape. There was little moonlight to guide us, both a blessing and a curse. It made it harder on us, but it hopefully would make it harder on those pursuing us as well.

Reem was leading, dragging me along. I clung to his hand as we ran. I was stumbling, exhausted. There was something wrong with me. I couldn't run as fast as I needed. No matter how much faster I told my legs to move, they just wouldn't do it. My body was weak, I could barely breathe. Desperation overtook me as I tried as hard as I could to keep up, keep running, and just keep moving.The wolves were gaining ground, closing in on us. I knew the vampires were close behind. We just had to outrun them a little while longer. The sun was coming up. We would be safe then.

Suddenly, he dragged me off of the path into a little hollow under a giant tree. "We'll be safe here for a little while," he whispered. I nodded, trying to catch my breath as quickly and silently as possible. I wasn't doing very well. My pulse thumped in my ears and I was gasping for breath. He looked concerned and scared. I tried to do better, but I was so weak and tired. My body was abused, covered in cuts, bruises, and now dirt from running through the woods in the dark. He took off his cloak and wrapped it around my shoulders. It was much warmer than the thin ragged dress I was wearing. He handed me a bottle of water. "Here, we'll rest a couple more minutes," I drank greedily from the bottle, knowing we had to keep moving if we wanted to survive. I had to finish the water he gave me quickly so we could continue. We had to keep moving.

The world started to turn black around me and the bottle fell from my hands. "I'm sorry, Adianna. It was the only way," he whispered as the black fog overtook me and I drowned in unconsciousness. There had been something in the water. Why would he drug me as we were trying to escape? Why was he doing this to me? “It’s the only way. I’m hiding you at the meeting place with Hunter. You’ll be safe there and I’ll lead them away.” I felt him life me into his arms, though I was floating in a dreamlike state. He passed me to Hunter when he arrived at the rock we met Hunter at the other day. Both men had realized I wouldn’t trust a strange male, that that fear might hinder their rescue attempt. They had worked together for this.

"Forget now. Forget until you're ready to remember," I heard Hunter’s voice bid me. Helplessly, I succumbed to the darkness and everything faded away.


	42. Now

The ride back to Kieran’s mansion was short. I hadn’t realized how close his mansion was to the school. I sat in the back of the car silently while the vampires up front discussed the reward they were going to receive for bringing me home. I watched the journey out the window, trying to come up with a plan and not be terrified out of my wits. This was a terrible plan and I was a moron for it, but I couldn’t leave Hunter and Carl to Kieran. They were my best friends. Hunter meant even more to me. I wasn’t sure I loved him. My head was too messed up from being with Reem and under Kieran’s control. But I knew I cared about him, and I couldn’t let anyone I cared about stay with Kieran.

I knew I couldn’t let these vampires take me directly to Kieran. I’d never save my friends if Kieran got ahold of me before I saw them. I remembered how the vampires who attacked Hunter had obeyed my order to stop and they had all frozen, unable to disobey me. My plan was forming, but it wouldn’t work on these two goons. They weren’t Kieran’s men directly. All vampires were under Kieran’s control since he was the king, but that’s all these two were.

We finally pulled up to the mansion and the vampires got out of the car. “C’mon, pet. Kieran will be happy to see you home,” one of them told me as he opened my car door. I slipped out of the car, keeping my head down and trying to look meek and tamed. The act fooled the vampires. They walked me up to the front door where one of Kieran’s men was on duty. Kieran’s man looked surprised to see me. I had to act now if my plan had any chance of working.

/Take me to Hunter and Carl. Take me to where the two new captives are/ I sent the order magically, trying to force him to do my will. I saw his eyes glaze for a second before he greeted the goons.

“Kieran is upstairs. He will give you your reward there. I will take the girl,” the vampire grabbed my arm and dragged me into the house. One of the servants led the two vampires upstairs. The vampire who held me dragged me to Kieran’s ballroom. Hunter and Carl were bound to chairs in the middle of the room. They were both beaten and bloody. Carl was naked except for a towel someone had covered him with. They had somehow gotten him to shift back from wolf form to human form. “You stay in here until Kieran comes for you.” He shoved me in the room and left.

The second he left, I ran to Hunter and Carl. They were both bound and gagged. They were bound in chains. I couldn’t free them. I cursed Kieran and wished he had bound them in rope. Rope I could have done something with. Chains I couldn’t. I knelt beside them, looking for any weakness in their bonds. I found none and I knew I didn’t have a lot of time. I reached up to remove their gags at the least. “Hunter, I can’t break the chains. You have to help me,” I told him urgently. We didn’t have a lot of time. I knew he wouldn’t be able to help, though. He was always able to help. He was barely conscious and was bleeding from a head wound at his temple. Carl wasn’t looking any better. I would have to do this alone.

“Adi, run. Get out of here,” Hunter groaned. He was mostly out of it and still trying to protect me.

“Not without you,” I told him firmly.

I heard footsteps then and whirled towards the door. Kieran, Rose, Reem, and some of Kieran’s vampires entered the room. We were out of time. I positioned myself so I was standing between Kieran and my friends. I wouldn’t let him hurt them anymore. “I knew you would return to save your friends,” Kieran greeted me. It took everything I had not to cower. I was going to do what I had to, to save my friends. But I had lived in the world again, I had known freedom. I wasn’t going to submit to him easily.

“Let them go,” I told him firmly. I saw a flicker of hesitation. I saw him fight the words. It was just a moment, but I saw it. I just needed to figure out how to work with that hesitation.

“Gladly. Just come back to me, pet,” he told me, holding out his hand to me in invitation. I took a deep breath, trying to find a way out of this. “I don’t want them. They can leave here in one piece. All you have to do is willingly come back to me.” His voice sounded like syrup, too sweet, but also hypnotic. It sounded like such a reasonable trade. All I had to do was trade myself for them.

I’d had to trade myself once before. Four years before when I traded myself for Michael and Paige.

 _Why do I have to trade myself? Why doesn’t he just take me? I’m just a human..._ the thought came to me, fighting its way through Kieran’s words. He could have just taken me then, and he could just do so now. Why did I have to agree, why did I have to make the trade?  _I’m the daughter of the King and Queen of the vampires. Maester Wright tried to hide me. If I’m their Princess... then I’m the rightful Queen. He was always taking my blood, then my daughter’s..._

 _“The student they are targeting is the daughter of two vampires, daughter of their previous king and queen. She is also the Child of Dreams, the Daughter of the Prophecy, Dreams Come to Life. Each of your cultures has a term for what she is, and what she will mean to you.”_ Maester Wright had said only this afternoon. I wasn’t just the heir to the vampire throne. That’s why Reem had protected me, why the shifters in Kieran’s service had always been looking out for me. That’s why he had been looking for me for years, why he stole girls with red hair and magic. He wanted me and my power from the beginning. He was only king because of me. 

I understood then. Kieran only had the power to rule because I had willingly given my power to him. I was coerced into it, but I had still made the choice to let him control me. When he controlled me, he controlled my power and my birthright.

“No,” I told him firmly. I shifted then into my hybrid form. I needed that strength now.

“You do not wish to save your friends?” Kieran asked calmly, still smug, still sure. Nobody had moved. They were waiting for what was going to happen.

“I will save my friends, Kieran,” I replied, softly yet strongly. For the first time since he took me, I was taking control. I would not take orders from him anymore. My friends’ lives depended on it.

 _I am the rightful heir. I am queen. Rightfully it is mine. This vampire is_ not _going to take that away from me anymore. I am the rightful ruler. Why should I fear this one vampire?_

“You will join me again?” Kieran laughed smugly. I watched him laugh for a second. Let him think that I was going to give up willingly. I wasn’t completely cured. Or anywhere near it, but I knew that I had to save my friends. This was the price.

“Adi, no!” Hunter yelled, finally starting to come around some. At least enough to catch up with what he thought I was doing.

“I’m free,” I said firmly. Kieran faltered. I looked at him, glaring, fire burning in my eyes as my magic flared around me. “I will not rejoin you Kieran, and you _will_ let them go,” I snarled at him. Kieran glared and regained his composure.

“I have power over everyone in this room,” He snarled. I glared in reply. He was wrong.

_I am queen._

He hesitated, then turned. “Kill the males. Lock her up,” he ordered the vampires.

I grabbed my magic, felt the part that felt like the vampires, the part that was cold and still and eternal. I grabbed it and threw it to every vampire in the room. “Don’t listen to him,” I ordered. They stopped, confused, but they obeyed my order without question.

“You obey me. Don’t listen to this bitch!” Kieran shouted at them. “I have the power here!” He was losing control of them and he knew it.

“No. You don’t.” I told him, matter-of-factly. I glared, finally accepting it for myself. I was free. “I do.” Kieran gasped, taking a step back away from me. For once, he was scared of me. I was just hoping that it would last. I looked at two of the vampires in the room. “Untie my friends,” I ordered them, still softly. I allowed them a taste of the power I possessed. I knew what it was for now. It wasn’t to please Kieran. It was to rule them. The two vampires bowed to me.

“Yes, milady,” They said in unison and went to their task. Everyone else stared at me in utter disbelief. I returned my attention to Kieran, trying to figure out what to do with him so that he would leave me alone for good. I gathered my courage and my wits, knowing that I would need both. I also knew that I had precious little of either. At least I was here and not giving up. That has to count for something, right? I also knew in my heart what the final answer would be. I didn’t want to accept it. Not yet. The human part of me insisted I had to give him a chance for redemption.

I took a deep breath. “I am you queen, Kieran. As was my mother before me. She died in a fire, as did my father, the king. You took control of me when you didn’t have the right or power to rule. You contained my magic so that I could not fight you, and you could try to rule. It’s over, Kieran,” I said firmly, remembering every punishment I had ever received from him. Carl shifted to wolf, his wounds healing as he did. Hunter stood and moved to stand behind me, in perfect guard position. I was glad to have them at my back for this.

“You are still mine,” Kieran snarled, wavering only the smallest amount. He threw his magic at me. I threw up a shield and felt his magic flow off, not even touching me. “You cannot fight all of us,” he laughed.

I threw my power then at the other vampires. I wasn’t giving them an option to fight against me. I let them feel the power that came from their former rulers, let them feel the cold, still power of the vampires that I carried within me. I knew in my heart that only the rightful king or queen could accomplish that. “I am your rightful queen, all of you. Who dares fight against me?” I demanded in the loudest voice I had managed since Kieran had kidnapped me all of those years ago. No one answered except Kieran. He lunged at me, obviously trying to win by brute force. Three vampires held him and kept him away from me. I knew that what had to come next. I steeled myself. I had given him every opportunity. He hadn’t deserved even that much. I knew that I had to do it, it was the only way to be rid of him.

“I, Adianna Kincaid, Queen of the vampires, Child of Darkness, here now pass judgment upon Kieran Rashada for the crime of high treason,” I said in a loud clear voice. I tried my best to keep all hesitation out of my voice. It was hard to do all three at the same time: loud, clear, strong. I had too much trauma, too much torture in my past. I wasn’t strong enough for this. I had to finish this soon before my resolve ended. I reached out with my magic and felt every vampire in the room. Kieran struggled, knowing my power for what it truly was now. The vampires who weren’t holding Kieran went down on one knee, respecting my power.

“You tortured me for four years, Kieran,” I stated. I touched him with my magic, drawing energy from him. He couldn’t block me, he couldn’t stop me. “You hurt me for no reason other than your enjoyment,” I pilfered more energy, more of his lifeforce. He was still trying to fight me. I sent the energy to my friends in a much cleaner form. My friends needed the strength. They needed the healing that the energy could provide. “I won’t tolerate you, or what you have done to me and countless others any longer. My judgment is permanent death,” I said, taking all but the barest spark of energy, of life, from him. He collapsed with only the vampires keeping him on his feet.

“Mercy, please!” Kieran pleaded. Finally he stopped fighting me. He realized that I was his Queen, and that I had power over his life. I wasn’t taking the bait.

“How can you ask for that which you cannot even define?” I demanded. He was afraid of me. I gave him one last thought.

_You are not better than me, Kieran Rashada. You do not rule me._

With that knowledge, I took the last spark of his life and watched him crumple to dust without blinking. There was no regret. This had been the right decision. He was finally gone.

The shackles, chains, and collars fell from Kieran’s slaves the instant he was gone. Rose collapsed in tears. I nodded to Hunter and he ran to her. He was holding her, calming her as she tried to fight him. “It’s okay now, Lily,” he soothed. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her, covering her more than Kieran had.

“Lily?” She asked him softly, scared, confused. She had forgotten him. I saw the moment of hurt in his eyes, but it faded in his relief that he had finally saved her.

“You’re my sister, Lily Blake,” he said, trying to comfort her, to remind her.

“My liege, what are your orders?” A vampire asked me, pulling my attention from Hunter and Lily. The vampire was bowing and scared. I was getting tired of being strong. All I wanted to do was curl up and be warm, safe, and free. Instead. . .

“Get Sanguis here as soon as possible. We will meet in the throne room. Give us privacy until then,” I ordered, exhaustion beginning to creep into my voice. “Reem, Hunter, Lily, Carl, come with me,” I ordered. I led my friends into the throne room. We would be okay there, and it wasn’t full of quite as many awful memories as the rest of the house.

“How did you-?” Reem asked as soon as we were alone. I sighed. I was too tired for this.

“I am their ruler by right. I reminded them of that with my power.” I told them simply. Hunter was cradling Lily, crying softly as he tried to convince her of who she was. Reem stared at me as if he were still trying to believe.

“Adi?” he asked softly, not wanting to be disappointed. I nodded and went to him. I stood in front of him awkwardly. I didn’t know what I felt about him and now wasn’t the time to figure it out, and yet I was going to have to. “I never would’ve expected you to come back,”

“I had to get you out too,” I whispered. I had forgotten about him for a little while. He had saved me while I was under Kieran’s control, but he had also raped me and manipulated and abused me for his own gain. He moved toward me, expectantly, opening his arms, like he was going to hug me, like I was supposed to be in love with him. I took a step back with a small head shake. I couldn’t be with him after everything he had done. I realized that I didn’t feel anything for him except pity for the situation he had been in.

A knock on the door saved me from having to explain my reaction. Reem went to open the door, half-bowing as Sanguis entered.

“You wished to see me, my queen?” Sanguis asked, bowing to me. He was being careful, he was scared of me. It was definitely a new feeling, having people be scared of me: an ex-slave.

“Yes, please, come, sit,” I addressed him. I smiled at him, trying to be perfectly civil. We both took a chair. “I’m not going to spend time with stupid small talk, I have a request of you, Sanguis,” I told him bluntly. I was getting really too exhausted for any of this. I just wanted to go home. Sanguis bowed his head.

“What is your request, Lady of the Night?” He asked carefully, trying not to anger me. Note the irony.

“I request that you rule the vampires in my stead. I have responsibilities in the human world and cannot rule full time, which is what the vampires need. I need a regent to rule in my stead. You were always kind when we met previously. I know you know the old ways of the vampires and I trust that you will follow the path I wish for the vampires to take. You would rule with my blessing, but not with my power. We can set up the details later if you accept. My first order, whether you accept or not, is that all of the slaves are now free. They are to be rehabilitated to deal with the real world, or given jobs in yours,” I concluded. I sat back and waited for his answer. I was still trying to pretend to be completely healed, completely in control. It was definitely hard. I was still afraid that he, or one of the other vampires was just going to kill me.

Sanguis nodded and bowed from his chair. “I will do as you ask, milady, though I do hope you take your throne when you are ready,” he said. I smiled, relieved.

“Thank you. If you’ll excuse us?” I stood without waiting for his reaction, except to note that he went down on one knee a second later. There were still plenty of details to figure out, but I couldn’t stay in this mansion any longer. It held too many bad memories. “Let’s go home,” I surveyed my friends. They were beaten, bruised, and sick, but all of us were ready to leave. They nodded.

“Be well, my queen,” Sanguis wished me. All of the vampires were waiting with Sanguis in the foyer. All of them bowed when we went past. “A limo is waiting for you, my queen,” I nodded, smiling.

“Thank you,” I responded simply. He offered me an arm and walked me to the limo. Sanguis himself opened the door for us. Once we were all settled, Sanguis closed the door and gave the driver the address. The next thing I knew, Reem had picked me up and set me in his lap. He hugged me, seeking comfort for himself.

I shrieked and scrambled out of his reach. Carl growled and grabbed Reem, dragging him as far away from me as the limo would allow. “What the hell? She’s my mate!” Reem yelled at the werewolf, hitting the wolf.

“No. I’m not,” I told Reem firmly. “I am grateful you saved me and helped me during the years I was with Kieran. I know some of the things you did while we were slaves was not your fault, but many of them were. I cannot be with you. I saved you from Kieran. We are even now.” Reem sputtered in response.

“Bitch! I saved your life and this is how you repay me?”

“You manipulated an abused, tortured teenage girl for sex. You raped me when I couldn’t consent and tried to convince me that I had,” I snarled at him. Hunter and Carl both growled at him and Lily cowered in the farthest corner of the limo she could find.

A second later, Carl shifted back to human form and was forcibly removing Reem from the limo, despite the fact that he was naked when he shifted. Reem fought, but Carl was stronger and the better fighter.  I didn’t know what happened to Reem after that and I really didn’t care either.

Soon we were alone in the limo and driving back to campus. Carl curled up on the seat next to me in wolf form. I hugged him and buried my fingers in his fur. Hunter was preoccupied with Lily. I didn’t blame him. She was his sister and he had been looking for him for years. I dozed off, curled with my safe, gay, werewolf bodyguard.

The limo stopped in front of our house on campus. I sat up when we stopped and I noticed that Maester Right, Sebastian, Bree, and Paige were sitting on the porch, waiting for us. _Uh-oh_ I felt the thought from all of us. We were all in trouble. The driver opened the door and everyone stepped out out, leaving me for last. I stepped out slowly, afraid of another confrontation today.

Paige had ran over to greet us, to make sure we were ok. Maester Right and Sebastian both ran over to me and hugged me at the same time. They both took a step back and started ranting at me about how stupid I was to go off to fight a vampire alone. _I will not break down_. I told myself firmly. I held up a hand to stop them. “If you’re both yelling at me at the same time, there’s no way I can listen to both of you,” I told them, trying to smile.

“Sorry . . . _what?_ ” They demanded at the same time, wondering why I wasn’t whimpering and apologizing. I smiled at them, willing to take my punishment for running off. I was free now. We all ended up in the livingroom of my campus house. Between the three of us, we explained everything that had happened with the vampires. We talked until early in the morning.

“I knew you could do it, Adi. Though you really should have waited until you had backup and a proper plan,” Maester Right was gentle in his scolding. Everything had worked out in the end.

“I know. I apologize for that, but I knew how awful Kieran was and I couldn’t leave Hunter and Carl to him,” I told him. He nodded.

It was decided that Lily would live here with us. Hunter and the teachers here were going to rehabilitate her, and me too, since I knew I still needed help. I would be attending classes in the fall. I was going to go back to a normal life. I was finally free.

There was one more urgent loose end. I had to give my daughter a proper burial. I had to tell Hunter and Maester Wright about her. “Hunter?” I asked. He looked over at me, away from his sister who was sleeping in the armchair she had curled up in when she got here. “I have something I need to show you,” I told him. He needed to know what I had done. He came over and sat on the loveseat next to me. He offered me a hand with a smile.

“Anything,” he told me simply. I saw in his eyes that his feelings hadn’t changed just because he had found his sister. I took his offered hand and opened my mind, filing through my memories quickly until I found the one I needed to show you.

“You have to know what I did,” I told him softly, with tears in my eyes. I was afraid he was going to reject me, to be horrified by what I had done. I hid from the memories. I couldn’t relive them, but Hunter needed to know. I let him see my memories of the night I had escaped from Kieran’s mansion, the night Reem had killed Hope..

He broke the connection first and dropped my hand. I looked down with tears in my eyes, terrified of his reaction. “It wasn’t your fault. You tried to save her,” he told me gently, softly. “We’ll give her a proper burial. It’s the least we can do for her.” He opened his arms, offering me a hug if I wanted it. I took the hug and sobbed into his chest, finally allowing myself to feel the emotions I had buried, to feel the horror and dread of losing my daughter.

“I couldn’t save her,” I sobbed.

“I know, but you tried. Reem was going to kill her regardless,” I heard Hunter’s snarls at the words and wondered briefly if Reem was going to face Hunter’s wrath. I don’t think Hunter would be alone, and I hoped I would be invited along as well.

With the promise of a proper burial for Hope and a future of freedom, Maester Wright finally sent us all to bed. Lily had been given the room next to mine. We walked up the stairs together, neither of us truly believing that it was over and we were finally, finally free. I could tell by her expression of shock and wonder, and how she cowered from all the males, even Hunter that it was going to be a long recovery for her.

I knew it was going to be a long recovery for myself as well. I laid in bed, finally thinking about my future, and realizing that I actually had one.

Once, I had thought I was normal. A long while ago I realized I wasn’t. I don’t belong in this the world of light. Not by birth anyway. In some ways because of Kieran I finally found a place now. A place where I’ve got Hunter to teach me and train me, maybe even love me. A world with him, Michael, Bree, Carl, and Paige as my friends. I could finally live life how I was meant to, as a free person. I still had a lot of decisions to make, but many of those would come _after_ high school, which suddenly didn’t seem as scary, at least not compared to Kieran. Even Kieran wasn’t scary once I knew I had power and once I had learned to use it. He knew I had power and he wanted to control it. I saved Carl and Hunter, with my friends’ help, I never thought they would be so important, so powerful. So from here I had the rest of my life to decide what I wanted to do.

The rest of my life.

The words seemed so full of possibility, now that Kieran was gone. Much more than they did all of those years ago, when Kieran first kidnapped me. Thoughts keep coming about the future, what was I going to do? Right then, I was just glad I had a decision, that I _would not_ be spending the rest of my days as some vampire’s slave. Finally I was free. I knew he’d always have a part of me, a part he ruined and broke over those years, there was nothing I could do about it, but learn to live with the scars. There was no need to dwell on the past any longer.

I had the rest of my life ahead of me.

 

 

The end. For now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a sequel coming. Thank you all for reading this original work! <3


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